Evelands Dot Net

For web development you'll need a webserver. While you could use IIS, you really want Apache, the most popular web server since mid '96. Here we'll cover the install of Apache 2.2 as a development platform (only allowing connections from the same machine...) with PHP 5.2.

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First the downloads. Head over to the Apache download page and grab the Win32 binary. It's the one labeled Win32 Binary (MSI Installer).

Before we install Apache, we'll create the directory structure for it. First create a folder named 'C:\WWW\'. Then make some folders under that:

• C:\WWW\
  • C:\WWW\APACHE\
  • C:\WWW\PHP\
  • C:\WWW\TMP
  • C:\WWW\WEBROOT\

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Now we can install Apache. Fill in your servers info; domain, server name and email. Since this is for development, we'll click on the option to only install for our user on port 8080 when we start the service.

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On the 'setup type' screen, click 'CUSTOM'. Then change the install path to C:\WWW\APACHE\.

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Now we'll edit the config file. Note: all slashes are *nix style slashes... c:/blag/blarg/ not windows style c:\blarg\blarg\

Open up C:\WWW\APACHE\conf\httpd.conf. Look for the line that says Listen 8080 and change it to LISTEN 127.0.0.1:8080 This makes Apache only let the local machine connect to the webserver. Also change the line DocumentRoot "C:/www/Apache/htdocs" to read DocumentRoot "C:/www/webroot/" This tells Apache that our web pages will be stored in C:/www/webroot. Last up, change the <Directory "C:/www/Apache/htdocs"> line to read <Directory "C:/www/webroot/"> At this point it looks like this.

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Now we'll install the service. Open a command prompt and browse to c:\www\apache\bin. Install the server with:
     https.exe -k install

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To start the service, open the Apache server monitor. It's in the start menu: 'Control Apache Server' -> 'Monitor Apache Servers' Click Start. If promted to unblock Apache, do so (unblock it).

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To verify Apache is installed, open a browser to http://127.0.0.1:8080

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