What is a Web Application?
In the most general terms, a Web application is a piece of software that runs on a Web server. A Web server is a just a specialized computer designed to host Web pages.
What Makes up a Web Application?
Most Web applications are comprised of two components: files and a database. When you install a Web application, you will need to make sure all of the files are copied over into the appropriate location AND that a database (and database user) has been set up to connect to those files. Often, you will have to do some configuration to make sure the application knows how to access the database.
One-Click Installers
The system we use for Reclaim Hosting uses a special script installer called Installatron that allows you to automatically install over 150 open source applications. When you use Installatron, you don’t need to worry about moving files, creating databases, or doing the initial configuration. It’s all taken care of for you!
If you’re curious about the process of installing applications, take a look at the following guides for some of our most commonly used applications:
Web Application Environment
In order to run on the Reclaim Hosting server, Web applications must be able to run on a LAMP server, which is the particular kind of Web server that we use. Occasionally, a Web application may require additional components or modules that need to be installed on the server. If you want to install an application that is not part of the Installatron suite, and it has requirements that you’re not sure the server can meet, let us know and we’d be happy to help.