XAMPP Free Web Server Solution Stack
Open Source Web Server Solution Stack for PHP & Perl Developers
XAMPP server provides a suitable development environment to build, test and verify the working of web projects locally.
Overview
XAMPP is a free and open source web server solution stack. It helps developers to test their web apps or websites on their development environment. It has all the necessary components including Apache, Perl, MySQL database, and PHP.
XAMPP provides a reliable local web server development environment for Perl and PHP based web applications. Moreover, It provides MariaDB and MySQL for database management. After XAMPP successful installation, you can start and stop each module by using XAMPP Control Panel. For testing PHP applications, you only need to start the two modules Apache and MySQL. It will allow PHP programs to run on your computer.
System Requirements
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable
- 64 MB RAM (RECOMMENDED)
- 750 MB free fixed disk
- Windows XP, VISTA, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10
Components
XAMPP is a free and open-source local web server package. It has following components:
- Apache: Free and open source web server Apache is the most widely used server to test web projects.
- MySQL/MariaDB: MySQL/MariaDB is also one of the most popular relational database management system. MySQL, Apache and PHP together provides the complete solution for data storage and web services. New versions of XAMPP have MariaDB instead of MySQL. MariaDB is actually a community-developed fork of MySQL.
- PHP: PHP is a basically a scripting language especially designed for web development. This server-side programming language enables developers to create dynamic websites or applications.
- Perl: Perl is also a scripting language designed for web development and network programming. Perl also enables users to program dynamic web applications.
Installation
Windows Installation
- To install XAMPP as localhost web server, download it from here.
- Install the executable file.
- Then click “Next”.
- After that choose the components you want to install.
- For most web apps you only need Apache, MySQL, PHP, and phpMyAdmin.
- Then select the installation directory where you want to install XAMPP.
- You will be shown a windows security alert. You must check the following option: “Private networks, such as my home or work network”.
- Finally click on “Finish” to complete installation.
Ubuntu Installation
- Download XAMPP to download folder from here.
- Move to the Downloads folder by using the following command:
$ cd /home/[username]/Downloads
- The installation package you downloaded needs to be made executable before it can be used further. Run the following command for this purpose:
$ chmod 755 [package name]
- Now the install package is in an executable form.
$ chmod 755 [package name]
- Execute Installer file
$ ls -l [package name]
- Launch the Setup Wizard
$ sudo ./[package name]
- Setup Wizard for XAMPP will open up
- Then click “Next”.
- Choose the components you want to install.
- For most web apps you only need Apache, MySQL, PHP, and phpMyAdmin.
- Then select the installation directory where you want to install XAMPP.
- After that you will be shown a windows security alert. You must check the following option: “Private networks, such as my home or work network”.
- Finally click on “Finish” to complete installation of this open source web server.
