There are several things you need in order to create and run Perl CGI programs.
a web server
web server configuration which gives you permission to run CGI
a Perl interpreter
appropriate Perl modules, such as CGI.pm
a shell account is extremely useful but not essential
Most of the above requirements will need your system administrator or ISP to set them up for you. Some will be wary of allowing users to run CGI programs, and may require you to obey certain security regulations or pay extra for the privilege. The most common security requirement is that CGI programs must run under cgiwrap. This is discussed later, in the section on security.