Before you start

About this tutorial

This tutorial walks you through the process of setting up your Windows XP machine as a PHP and MySQL development environment. You will start by downloading and installing the Apache Web server for handling HTTP requests (the type of request that you make every time you type a URL into a browser). You'll also learn how to configure the Apache server, so you can store your Web site documents anywhere you like. You'll even set up the default index files that Apache uses.

With a Web server setup, you'll then download and install the PHP scripting language. Beyond a simple download, you will have to configure Apache to pass requests through to the PHP engine. As with Apache, you will also learn how to locate your scripting files correctly, and secure them as well.

Once you have a Web server and a PHP scripting engine running, all that's left is adding a database. Typically, MySQL is the popular choice of database as it is cost-free and open source -- that is what I use in this tutorial. An alternative is IBM Cloudscape, which is also a standards-driven relational database written in Java. It's designed for embedding in the many Java apps and servers that developers use today. Here, you'll learn how to install MySQL on the Windows platform and connect your PHP scripts to a MySQL database.

By the time you're done, you'll have a complete development environment, ready for testing and development.

This tutorial is written for Web developers. If you're comfortable working with PHP and databases, then this tutorial will get you up and running on Windows XP (whether or not it's connected to the Internet all the time). If you're just getting started with Web programming, though, this tutorial will provide a virtual playground for trying out PHP. Whatever your level of expertise, as long as you are willing to take things step by step, this tutorial will get you ready to go on Windows.

You will also do some general Windows configuration, including setting up your environment. If you're familiar with PATH and other Windows XP environment variables, you're already set; if this is new to you, you'll get a brief introduction in this tutorial.

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System requirements

All you need in terms of software and hardware is a machine running Windows XP (I use SP2, but I've run this same setup without SP2 for years). I'll walk you through all the downloading and installation, so you don't need any pre-existing software. You'll also need administrator access on your machine, so you might have trouble if you're working on a shared machine. Finally, you'll need Internet access during this tutorial to download software. Once you have the environment set up, however, you won't need Internet access.

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Table of contents

• Before you start
• Develop, test, deploy
• Set up the Apache Web server
• Install the PHP interpreter
• Install MySQL
• Summary
• Resources
• About the author

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Next steps from IBM

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