Setting up a dev box with Apache HTTP Server, PHP and MySQL is an important skill for any web developer. On a Windows computer, this is referred to as WAMP; on Linux, LAMP.
In this tutorial:
Required knowledge:
WAMP
Configuring a WAMP stack will seem complicated at first. The general idea is as follows:
- Install and run Apache HTTP Server
- Install PHP
- Configure Apache so that it knows where to send PHP code for processing
- Install and run MySQL
- Configure PHP so that it knows how to use MySQL
You can use MySQL Workbench or phpMyAdmin to work directly with your MySQL databases.
MySQL started as an open-source project. In 2010, Sun Microsystems (now Oracle) bought MySQL. At the same time as it was sold, the project was forked to create MariaDB. [1]
All-in-one
XAMPP is an all-in-one installer that sets up your environment hassle-free. “Since XAMPP 5.5.30 and 5.6.14, XAMPP ships MariaDB instead of MySQL. The commands and tools are the same for both.” [2] “XAMPP is a completely free, easy-to-install Apache distribution containing MariaDB, PHP, and Perl. The XAMPP open source package has been set up to be incredibly easy to install and to use.” [3]
WampServer promises “a Web development platform on Windows that allows you to create dynamic Web applications with Apache2, PHP, MySQL and MariaDB. WampServer automatically installs everything you need to intuitively develop Web applications. You will be able to tune your server without even touching its setting files.” [4]
Fine-tune
Once your WAMP-stack is running you will want to fine-tune it. Here are some common configuration changes:
References:
- Apache Friends (no date) XAMPP Apache + MariaDB + PHP + Perl. Available at: https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html (Accessed: 9 September 2024).
- Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation (2024) MySQL. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySQL (Accessed: 10 September 2024).
- MariaDB (no date) Download MariaDB Products & Tools. Available at: https://mariadb.com/downloads/ (Accessed: 10 September 2024).
- WampServer. (no date) WampServer, a Windows web development environment. Available at: https://www.wampserver.com/en/ (Accessed: 11 September 2024).