INSTALLING APACHE

In the Introduction we have discussed that PHP is a general-purpose scripting language that specially suits Server Side development. Therefore, it needs a web server where PHP codes could run.

Basically there are two primary ways for adding PHP to a web server – as a native web server module, and as a CGI executable. PHP has a direct module interface which is supported by many web servers including Apache, Microsoft IIS. If PHP has no module support for a web server, it can always be used as a Common Gateway Interface (CGI); in that case, the web server is configured to use PHP's CGI executable to process all requests to PHP files

PHP configuration file namely ‘php.ini’ can be configured in numerous way to affect the PHP functionalities in different environment. Details about the php.ini, I will be uploading in my next tutorial.

So now we are clear that for a test bed for our PHP code we need to look for web server where we can test our PHP code.

Options to Test PHP Code

1. Testing the code on the online free web servers which supports PHP.

2. Installing the PHP code of your local system.

So, now we shall discuss the second approach which is “Installing web server in local system”

Out of numerous methods and options available for different OS and configurations, I will be discussing about installing a mini web server in my local system through ‘wamp’ or ‘xampp’

Here I am going to deal with ‘Xampp’

XAMPP for Windows provides an easy to install Apache-MySQL-PHP-PERL-PEAR framework. XAMPP saves time and effort and provides the software support for web frameworks like Drupal, Joomla, Moodle, or wikiMedia on any Windows PC.

1. Just visit to site : http://www.apachefriends.org/

2.Choose your version of Operating system and download the compatible Xampp Framework.

Simply follow the instructions during the installation and your installation will be on its way.

Once installed, open Xampp control panel and click the service you want to start something like below

Once you start the apache service, just open the page in your browsers as shown in the screenshot below, if you have made no errors during installation then you too can see the page.