Enable access to Apache, PHP, localhost, etc. to a non-admin user?

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Enable access to Apache, PHP, localhost, etc. to a non-admin user?

Hello everyone,

I'm an IT admin at a college, and I'm looking for a way to enable access to Apache, PHP, localhost file and all that stuff WITHOUT being an administrator. It is for a PHP class on our campus.

We take security very seriously on campus here, so I unfortunately can't allow students full admin rights on the machines to run this sort of thing. Is there any way to do this using ARD? I'm even up for doing this locally through the terminal if I need to. I have tried adding the local user account on the machines to the sudoers file, but this just grants them full admin access anyway.

Any ideas? I'm sorry I don't have any real specifics as Apache & PHP are not really my strongsuit. The instructor isn't in much of a mood to help me either.

Extra Info:

We are running Mac OS 10.8.4 on all the machines.

All of the computers in this lab are core i5 iMacs just before the redesign.

I appreciate all the help. Thanks,

-MM

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Jul 30, 2013 10:06 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 30, 2013 10:19 AM in response to corneliusgt

I suggest setting up a server running Apache, PHP, MySQL etc.. Assign each student a user account and associated user www directory accessible by FTP, WEB, and terminal. Each user will then have access to Apache, PHP, etc. So you don't have to do anything with the lab computers except allow users to login.

Of course my suggestion is simplified here but you get the picture. It is no different than a hosting provider setting up shared hosting. Each customer gets their own access to PHP, Apache etc. Of course you will have to set what actions are allowed for the user accounts. You don't what for example the users crashing PHP and affecting other users. But you can set it up so that individual users can write and run PHP scripts, create databases, and set Apache configurations using .htaccess in their respective local directories.

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