How to Set up a Test Server on Your Own Computer

We have numerous other articles written on this very subject. Each one tackles a different





aspect of this complex topic.





When you're developing a website, you indigence to see it in action on a truly server, to see





how it will work. While you could upload your pages to your web crowd every time you make a





change, this quickly gets time-consuming and tiresome. Wouldn't it be great if you could have





a little test server of your own? Well, the server is nothing but a member of software so you





can! Please note that, for the purposes of this article, I will assume you're with Windows as





your operating system.





Installing an IIS analysis Server.





While with IIS isn't recommended, a test server is very simple to install. All you indigence





to do is open 'Add or eradicate Programs' in Windows' direct panel. All you indigence to do is





click Internet Information army (IIS), click OK, and you're done.





For the rest of this article, we will discuss the meaning behind what we have learned about





this subject so far.





Of course, there are downsides to this. Many versions of Windows don't come with IIS, and





there's no way to ensconce it on them Windows XP Professional, for example, comes with IIS,





but Windows XP Home does not. You might also want to ponder that installing IIS on your





computer will often make it minus secure.





Installing an Apache analysis Server.





Compared to installing IIS, installing Apache is hard Linux distributions all have relatively





simple ways of liability it, but Windows wasn't intended for it. To get Apache installed,





then, you're available to indigence to have a little fight with the system.





Note: If you want to skip all the next steps, you might ponder with an 'easy installer'





edition of Apache, such as XAMPP (for Windows), which you can get at





www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html. The downside to this approach is that you will be





relying on them to give new releases, instead of being able to renew things yourself.





First of all, download Apache from http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi. Make sure you





download the Windows Installer (MSI) version. You'll find it easiest to make the server run as





a service, as this will make it run automatically Apache will surface in your system tray (in





the bottom-right bend of your screen).





Now, you indigence to find your Apache configuration file. In the folder where you installed





Apache, look for another folder named 'conf', and then a chafe named 'httpd.conf'. Open this





chafe and look for a setting called DocumentRoot. You should change this to feature to a





folder on your hard drive, such as 'c:/html'.





Now, you've got Apache, but that's not regularly much good on its own. The odds are that





you'll want to ensconce PHP and MySQL as well, so here's how:





Download PHP from http://www.php.net/downloads.php. Again, go for the installer. Once you've





installed PHP, find its folder, and rename the php.ini-dist chafe there to php.ini. Find the





'doc_root' setting there, and set it to the same thing you set Apache's to.





Back in Apache's httpd.conf, you should add these lines:





LoadModule php5_module "c:/php/php5apache2.dll"





AddType application/x-httpd-php .php





PHPIniDir "c:/php"





If you didn't ensconce PHP in c:php, change the outline above to replicate where you put it.





Now, installing MySQL isn't as difficult, because it runs independently of your Apache





configuration. Download MySQL from dev.mysql.com/downloads. Again, get the Windows installer





version. This installer has a lot of settings, but you'll be minute if you just click Next





through them to accept all the defaults.





The only remaining walk is to allow MySQL help in PHP. item libmysql.dll chafe from c:php to





your WindowsSystem32 folder, and then open the php.ini chafe you formed before. eradicate the





semicolon from the boon of the line that says ';extension=php_mysql.dll', and keep the file.





Shut down Apache and save it, and you're done!





Visiting Your Server.





When they've installed a server on their computer, many people marvel how they can access the





server they just installed as if they were visiting it over the web. The answer is simple:





just open your web browser, and go to this URL: http://localhost (you can also use





http://127.0.0.1). This special address means 'the server on this computer'.





You'll know if you installed Apache successfully because you'll see a page congratulating you.





When you change your web pages, just use your browser's Refresh button to see the effect.





Seeing is believing, but sometimes we cant all experience every subject in life. This article





hopes to make up for that by providing you with a valuable resource of information on this





topic.







To learn more, please visit http://web-development-info.info/





Keith Londrie II



klondrie @ yahoo.com



http://web-development-info.info/