WAMP5 and EasyPHP, both great local web server options

Filed under: Developer, Internet, Utilities, Freeware

WAMP5 and EasyPHP, both great local web server options

by Ryan Carter Jun 16th 2007

EasyPHP is a great little web server package, as you might expect, it has the usual LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) stack, with phpMyAdmin, and a few other things. The only issue you might have with the EasyPHP 1.8 release is that it uses PHP 4. This may not be a problem unless you really need some of those sweet new features from PHP5. No word yet on when the folks at EasyPHP will be including PHP5, but we hope it will be soon. The more web development you do in PHP, you start to want those new features more and more. If you need a PHP4 based web server for testing or other purposes, EasyPHP is great.

If you just can't get enough of that PHP5 goodness though, you're out of luck, especially for someone who doesn't want to go inserting PHP5 into EasyPHP and bringing the whole shebang down on their heads. There is a web server solution that includes PHP5 in a slim package that is seamless and you could almost say exciting. WAMP5 installs quick and does a kill job of it. It more accurately reflects the fact that this is Windows not Linux we're using, thus the WAMP name. A great part of WAMP is the built in service support and simplified administration panel.

The downside to WAMP is that it is only a desktop installed application, not playing nice with your portable web-serving needs. While not a real drawback, it can be useful to have a portable web server running on a stick for a web developer on the go. EasyPHP does work well on a portable drive, so long as you can live without PHP5 for a bit. For most things either web server package will work just fine. They both are small downloads, easy to install and run without a hitch, and make your life easier. Both packages are also free, which helps with sticker shock.

Remember the days when you had to change each file one by one on FTP and re-upload? Yeah, those days are over.

Tags: apache, development, EasyPHP, MySQL, PHP, server, WAMP, web

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

minaural said 3:16PM on 6-16-2007

XAMPP has PHP5 and it can run on a USB stick:

http://portableapps.com/apps/development/xampp

Boyan said 3:27PM on 6-16-2007

I have used WAMP5 but I found an even better product called XAMP: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html. It seemed to be more up to date (with the latest version of Apache), more portable and available for multiple platforms.

Sim said 4:24PM on 6-16-2007

Yeah these apps are a web developers dream. I personally love http://www.uniformserver.com/ Check it out. PHP 5 and all. I can run it off a usb stick as well.

Ryan Carter said 6:16PM on 6-16-2007

I have used XAMPP as well, however it seems to have more issues (at least on my Vista machine) and there is a bit more of a learning curve. Still a very solid package, worth looking into.

chanio said 11:48PM on 6-16-2007

Lets mention that besides not having to learn french to install an Apache 2 server, XAMPP [ http://apachefriends.org/ ] comes working without installing anything. It also has a miniserver that is even simpler to port into an USB stick. It is so simple that some years ago, when I discovered it I asked myself why nobody had thought of that idea before: The zipped files already have the structure of the complete server and applications (let's mention that comes with perl and modperl for programming the apache, and other things are also available). The config doesn't use absolute addresses so, everything is relative to the place where you put the main XAMPP directory.
The same happens when you copy it all to a USB or even a CD.
From my own experience in Windows servers, this is the only one that you only have to build web pages and put them at the expected places to start having a web site. (includes SSL)

Bryan Price said 2:17PM on 6-17-2007

Well, the EasyPHP points to Wamp5, which I've used before. Evidently my code no longer works under PHP5. :( It used to. My host has all errors on PHP suppressed (evidently a security issue?), and I've got some issues trying to get the latest Blogkomm running. And since I can't see the errors...

Since the host I'm using is still running PHP4, I guess I'll try xampp out. I _thought_ that Wamp had the ability to run PHP4. Can't find it know.

And if Blogkomm has been written for PHP5, I have a feeling I know why it no longer works for me. :*|

Off to download and run xampp now (and uninstalling Wamp5).

kerunt said 7:06PM on 6-17-2007

EasyPHP 2.x beta runs PHP5. I've been using it for several months for local development - no problems. EasyPHP is awesome!

kmj said 8:18PM on 6-17-2007

XAMPP can switch between PHP 4 and 5. It can also be run from a USB thumb drive.

Aaron Bassett said 11:40PM on 6-17-2007

I'm a big fan of apache2triad - http://apache2triad.net/

It includes the usual Apache2, PHP, mySQL along with phpMyAdmin, python, perl, PostgreSQL, XMail, SlimFTPd and alot of others.

Its not portable but for a one-time easy install you should give it a look :)

tim said 1:16AM on 6-18-2007

Xampp gets my vote too...

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