Bitter and Twisted?

[stlewis]

If you ever have to develop web applications using PHP or ASP you will probably have to run a personal web server.

For Windows users the obvious solution is PWS/IIS. The free version is fine but it causes some difficulties when developing more than one web site. An appealing alternative is Apache. There is a Windows version, it's free and you can support the open source movement.

If you go for Apache, however;

1. take a complete system backup first
2. don't expect to move from IIS to Apache or vice versa
3. don't expect to find clear, easy-to-follow documentation
4. don't expect to find it easy to configure it or PHP/MySQL to run with it

Perhaps some people have had more luck - or more skill than me. But I have just had to rebuild my PC twice. I tried to move from IIS to Apache and found I was sliding backwards down a cliff with my fingernails ripping out. I rebuilt the machine and tried to install Apache from fresh. No luck. It ran with occasional total PC crashes, but I was not going to spend the next three days poking through dismal documentation to get PHP and MySQL running with it. And re-installing IIS over the top failed. More ripped nails. So I have now rebuilt my PC again. With IIS.

Some open source stuff is brilliant - PHP and MySQL, and phpbb2 forum software for example. But not Apache for Windows.

www.bricksandbrass.co.uk

[stlewis]

If you ever have to develop web applications using PHP or ASP you will probably have to run a personal web server.

For Windows users the obvious solution is PWS/IIS. The free version is fine but it causes some difficulties when developing more than one web site. An appealing alternative is Apache. There is a Windows version, it's free and you can support the open source movement.

If you go for Apache, however;

1. take a complete system backup first
2. don't expect to move from IIS to Apache or vice versa
3. don't expect to find clear, easy-to-follow documentation
4. don't expect to find it easy to configure it or PHP/MySQL to run with it

Perhaps some people have had more luck - or more skill than me. But I have just had to rebuild my PC twice. I tried to move from IIS to Apache and found I was sliding backwards down a cliff with my fingernails ripping out. I rebuilt the machine and tried to install Apache from fresh. No luck. It ran with occasional total PC crashes, but I was not going to spend the next three days poking through dismal documentation to get PHP and MySQL running with it. And re-installing IIS over the top failed. More ripped nails. So I have now rebuilt my PC again. With IIS.

Some open source stuff is brilliant - PHP and MySQL, and phpbb2 forum software for example. But not Apache for Windows.

www.bricksandbrass.co.uk

[MacDiddy]

I don't think it is a good idea to use your personal machine as a web server. Real server space is pretty cheap these days and the client should be paying for it anyway.

[stlewis]

I'm the client and only have a dial-up line. When I'm wealthy...

www.bricksandbrass.co.uk