University System Admin password issues

[mikelly321]

hi,

we're using XAMPP at our university to give our students access to MySQL and the Apache Server. unfortunately, we would have to give the students the computer lab's Admin password to turn these features on with XAMPP Control when they're working outside of class time. the password requirement is used to prevent the installation of unapproved software, the deletion of warranted software, etc.

is there a way to get around this to allow students to start XAMPP Control without our having to share the system Admin password with them?

any help would be much appreciated!

thanks!!!
Mike Kelly

[Altrea]

Hi Mike Kelly,

Basic answer: You can't with the default configurations.
Starting a server application which opens and listens to a priviledged port (all ports up to 1024) needs to have superuser permissions.
There is no way around privileged port access limitations without privileged access.

So changing the default Apache ports is maybe the only chance to start Apache without root.

best wishes,
Altrea