The features, mission, and principles of the Drupal project

Don't panic. - Douglas Adams (The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)

Drupal is an open source content management platform licensed under the GPL. Equipped with a powerful blend of features, Drupal can support a variety of websites ranging from personal blogs, corporate brochures and large community-driven websites.

While it is not the purpose of this manual to fully educate you on database, web server or operating systems basics specific to your site, this will hopefully introduce you to getting a Drupal based website installed and configured for your needs. For a more technical sounding definition;

Drupal is a web-based content management system. Text and pointers to other kinds of content are stored in a database, dynamically retrieved and composed, and presented to a user in response to a request sent via a web-browser.

Sound scary? It is a complex software product and can at times seem overwhelming, however, anyone willing to invest a little time and effort can learn how to use, setup, configure and maintain a Drupal based web site.