AMP it up! Installing a Server

Set­ting up a Local Server

So you want to test your site out locally. That is what AMP is all about. It is com­monly referred to as the AMP stack because it involves installing the Apache server, the MySQL data­base and PHP as a server side lan­gauge. All 3 together is like Voltron but you can just call it AMP. You may hear peo­ple say LAMP (the ‘L’ is for Linux).

To man­u­ally install all three use this link to get started.

Why man­u­ally install AMP?

It’s kind of a slow, tedious process but I found it helped me solve prob­lems down the road. I’m going to show how to install XAMPP and MAMP which do it all with a few clicks but if every­thing is done for you, you don’t really get an idea of what is hap­pen­ing. At least once in your life you should try being a veg­i­t­ar­ian as well as man­u­ally installing AMP.

Let’s quickly tell you about the following:

MAMP: Installing the AMP stack on Macs

note: you don’t need to install PRO MAMP. That costs money.

WAMP: Installing the AMP stack on Windows

XAMPP: (for both Macs and PCs)

(down­load for MAC)

(down­load for PC)

note: If you want to install Dru­pal, check out DAMP.

Which one is right for me?

They all do the same thing so pick one.

Installing XAMP on PC

Here’s how to install XAMPP on a PC.