XAMPP as local web test system

A great majority of websites use either Microsoft IIS or an Apache Server. In June 2012, Apache had over 64% of the market share, while IIS had 14%, according Netcraft Web Server survey.

Most of the Apache based websites run three basic services - Apache, MySQL and PHP. Apache http is an open source server developed by the Apache Software Foundation. It is free to distribute and allows users to edit the code to fit to their needs. PHP is the programming language that many websites are written in – it can manipulate information held in a database and generate web pages dynamically each time content is requested by a browser. MySQL is the open-source database which stores the information for programs.

In addition to Linux, Apache run on Windows as well. Running Apache on local system (like PC, laptop) enable developer and system administrator to test a software before uploading the code to a production server.

However, it is not easy to install an Apache web server and it gets harder if you want to add MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. The XAMPP distribution for Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, and Windows 7 contains: Apache, MySQL, PHP + PEAR, Perl, mod_php, mod_perl, mod_ssl, OpenSSL, phpMyAdmin, Webalizer, Mercury Mail Transport System for Win32 and NetWare Systems v3.32, Ming, FileZilla FTP Server, mcrypt, eAccelerator, SQLite, and WEB-DAV + mod_auth_mysql.

XAMPP for Windows essentially turning a computer into a web server that can be used locally for testing web sites ideas and learning new technologies. Setting up of XAMPP as local test server on computer is very simple - just download, extract and start. It also includes PHPMyAdmin which is very useful for dealing with MySQL databases.

The philosophy behind XAMPP is to build an easy to install distribution for developers to get into the world of Apache. To make it convenient for developers XAMPP is configured with all features turned on. However, the default configuration is not good from a securtiy point of view and it is not secure enough for a production environment - it is recommended to fine tune the default configuration before open the services to the public.

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