Starting and Running a Wiki Website/Self-hosting
For more power and flexibility or for business applications, many people will want to serve their own wikis. This requires considerably more knowledge about how wikis work and especially about wiki software.
[edit] Business Environments
Especially in business environments, administrators may be interested in wiki security. Many people believe that nobody who is granted read access should be denied write access or wikis lose their power, but there are times when administrators will want to restrict which users are allowed to access a wiki.
Another consideration in business environments and other large organizations is whether or not the wiki software can interface with other logins. E.g. Twiki can get the username from Windows NT, allowing users username level access without a login. Such schemes allow the benefits of usernames without discouraging users from participating by making them log in.
Businesses may choose to outsource the hosting of the wiki environment. For intranet installations, companies such as SocialText offer a hardware-based "appliance" solution. For customization, design or production of wiki projects, companies such as Wiki Studios offer professional wiki services to business, non-profit organizations and branches of government.
[edit] Customizing software
One of the benefits of hosting a wiki oneself is the ability to recode the wiki software. For an example of this, see Sensei's Library. The administrators of Sensei's added Go markup functionality to their software for easy illustration of Go boards and pieces.
[edit] Choosing the wiki software
There are more than one hundred wiki engines available. Some good starting points are to read Comparison of wiki software, Top Ten Wiki engines, WikiMatrix comparison table.
