Database help... PHP? Httprequest? wtf?

Seriously... i need help with this.. let me tell you what i wanna do first.

Machine gets to owner.
machine sends serial number, owner, and various other info to a database not on SL..
database keeps info on each serial number and if its transfered to another person

so... i need to know exactly where to start..

is the server located on a website? on a computer thats always running?

how do i set up the webside/computer to recieve the info and place it?

what do i use in SL to send this data?

i need some real good examples of how this works and how you even begin setting this stuff up.. ive searched the wikis.. but its not making much sence to me.. im more confused on the NON SL part of it.. can someone please please please help me?

You eed either to get someone to setup a database for you on a webserver, or get one yourself, or find someone who has the option for you. Here are 2 places you can go, one is w-hat, they have a free simple database for you, and then there is one written by one of the lindens.

Silo (Zero Linden) - /54/69/119570/1.html

w-hat: http://w-hat.com/httpdb

Yes you need first a webserver with database capability on apache or IIS then some php or some other programing lenguage to manage the info and request from the database to SL or visceversa.
Personally i prefer PHP and Mysql because the learning curve its not so big.
If you need store some information from some object you sell in SL you dont need to use external databases to get the KEY of the owner, the script can get it for you and the other data that you whant when the script runs for first time o change the owner.
Creating the database structure its easy when you know what type of data its nessessary like, Key of the current owner, place where the script is running ,serial number, date etc.
You can pay for some webserver with php and Mysql for 15 $ or less.

actually, the wikis are rather good at explaining it, they just aren't really set up like "Step 1 - get a host account, Step 2 - create MySQL database, etc..." Because they are really only "about" the LSL part of the whole process I guess.

Basically, you will need to set up an account on a webserver. On that server, you'll need to create your database, my choice is MySQL, but I guess you really could use the database of your choice depending on what your hosting provider says. I might be backwards, but I then get into the LSL portion, setting up the llHTTPRequest and http_response portions of the system. This is really personal preference, lots will say do it all on one side first, then go to the other side, but doing the LSL at this point helps me really visualize what it is I need to send and receive from the php script I will write. So, basically I'm "writing' the php script in my head as I'm working out the LSL.

Anyway, then it's time to get into the php side and write that to receive the headers, parameters, etc. that you will receive from the LSL script, connect to your database and do your thing there. Remember your php->lsl response. This is important. First time I did this I forgot all about it and took forever to figure out why it was screwy LOL..So, you now have a basic idea of the pattern of the process. You will need to:

1. Collect data inworld
2. Send that data via llHTTPRequest to your hosted PHP script
3. Receive the data in the PHP script and use the data for whatever.
4. Send back a response from the PHP script
5. Receive the response from the PHP script in the LSL script
6. Process the response inworld

Hope it helps!