Online Examination System in PHP and MySQL - Installation Options

   Besides hosting the Online Examination System on the internet on your domain which provides MySQL and PHP, there are several other convenient options available.

Installing on a PC in your Internal Network (LAN)

   In case access is required locally only, i.e. you intend to conduct the online examination on your internal network only, you can install and configure the system on a dedicated PC on your local network. A dedicated system with about 2 GB RAM, 2GHz processor and 80 GB Hard disk will easily take a load of more than 50 students answering simultaneously with the specifications provided. Note that these specifications have to be better depending on the number of students answering at a time.
   The online examination system developed by me has been used successfully on a system with 1GHz processor and 1 GB RAM with a load of more than 20 students answering simultaneously on a local network. Your Students can answer the exams from anywhere on your internal network (LAN). An internet connection is not required for this type of installation.

Providing Access To Your Local Network Over the Internet

   If you want to allow the students to answer their exams from their locations any where in the world, it is possible to provide access to your PC in the local network where the Online Examination System is installed over the internet by connecting the PC where you have installed it to the internet.
   A broad band internet connection of at least 1 Mbit is required. Your internet connection has to be faster if there are going to be a large number of students answering simultaneously.
   This is achieved by getting an Sub domain for free from providers like no-ip or dynamic dns and configuring it so that all traffic to that subdomain is redirected to your PC. Your students will only have to enter your IP address (subdomain name) in their browser and they will be connected to the web server on your PC.

On a Secure Virtual Private Network

For this option a secure virtual private network using software such as Hamachi will have to be configured. Software has to be installed on your PC on which the Online Examination System has been installed as well the PC's of the students.
   Other PC's connected to the internet will not get access at all to your system. This is a very secure method of providing access. The drawback of using this option is that only a limited number of PCs can connect to your PC.