John E Evans
EdTech 552
Apache/MySql/PHP Server Install
In accomplishing the tasks for this assignment, my goal was not so much to create a particular
kind of site, but to go through the process. Since starting, I have identified an education purpose
for what I have done. I have worked as a network administrator for most of my career, but I
never had web server responsibilities. I played with an old version of Apache on Win98 a long
time ago, but not since. I’ve also done a little with IIS, but I really don’t like it.
I have had several web project ideas floating in my head for some time both personal and
educational, and knew that I was going to want the server-side scripting of PHP and would
eventually need a database. I was already aware of MySQL and planned to use it some day. My
computer science degree is so old that Databases was not a required class. My first databases
were built around custom-written programming. So I have ordered a couple of textbooks that
teach combined MySQL and PHP.
One project I have meant to do is a rewrite of my homepage, which is a portal I created for
quickly navigating to my frequently visited websites. The original was static HTML text and was
looking dated and cluttered. I rewrote it using CSS and a little but of JavaScript to get it looking
better. I then used my new AppServ install for testing.
Everything installed quite easily, although there were some
minor differences between my installation and the tutorial.
Not a big deal. The Apache and MySQL services loaded
without error.
I like the overall package of AppServ, but I plan to look at
others as well. One in particular I am interested in is
IndigoAMPP, which combines Apache, MySQL, PHP and
IndigoPerl.
Installation, as I said was very straightforward, and the
default page was up and running quickly.
PHP also responded as it should.
