Installing Local Web Servers
It’s cheap and easy to install web server software on your computer for developing and testing websites or web applications.
While previewing static html pages in a browser will give an accurate depiction of how they’ll look, sites that include dynamic server-side technologies like PHP, Perl, ASP, MySQL, or Ruby, must be running on a web server to be previewed accurately.
There many free, open-source web server solutions for PC, Mac, or Linux users.
Following are three Apache-based distributions that aim to make it easier for server rookies to install, configure and run web server software on local computers.
XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use – just download, extract and start.
apache friends – very easy apache, mysql, php and perl installation without hassles
XAMPP is available for Windows, MacOSX, Linux, and Solaris.
The Web-Developer Server Suite is an open-source/non-proprietary, WAMP-based [Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP] web-server distribution for Windows that is fully configured and ready to run.
WAMP is for Windows
EasyPHP is a complete software package allowing to use all the power and the flexibility that offers the dynamic language PHP and the effecient use of databases under Windows. Package includes an Apache server, a MySQL database, a fully PHP execution, as well as easy development tools for your web site or your applications.
[EasyPHP] – Apache | MySQL | PHP | PhpMyAdmin
Easy PHP is for Windows
Of the three packages listed, XAMPP seems to have the most buzz and popularity. It’s arguably the most feature-complete and configurable. It’s available for multiple operating systems and in a few different builds. I’ve even installed and used it from a USB stick without problems.
DevSide.net’s Web-Developer Server Suite was the first web server software package that I installed in Windows XP and it worked perfectly. Since then, it’s become a more polished project and includes even more features.
While I haven’t used Easy PHP I wanted to mention it because it’s a scaled-down version of the other two distributions, offering a core install without a lot of the extras included in the other packages. It’s similar to XAMPP Lite; including Apache, PHP, MySQL, and phpMyAdmin.
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