Page 53 - Beginning PHP 5.3

Chapter 2: Your First PHP Script
Installing on Windows

PHP on Windows can work with Apache or IIS. For the sake of simplicity, this chapter looks at a very
easy way to install Apache and PHP: WampServer. This handy piece of software gives you Apache,
MySQL, and PHP all in one handy, easy - to - install package.

WampServer comes from the acronym WAMP — Windows, Apache, MySQL, and PHP — which is
used to describe any Windows - based Web server setup that uses these three open - source technologies.
To install WampServer, follow these steps:

1. Download the latest version of WampServer from http://www.wampserver.com/en/ . At the
time of writing, the latest version was PHP 5.2.6; however, by the time you read this it ’ s likely
that a PHP 5.3 version is available.
2. Open the WampServer .exe file that you downloaded, and follow the instructions on the screen
to install the application.
3. Unblock Apache. As you run the installer, you may be asked if you want to allow Apache
through the Windows Firewall, as shown in Figure 2-4 . If you want to allow other computers on
your network to access the Web server, click Unblock. If you ’ re only going to access the Web
server from a browser on the same computer, you can click Keep Blocking to improve security.

Figure 2-4

4. Enter default mail settings. During the configuration process you ’ ll also be asked to enter a
default mail server and email address for PHP to use (Figure 2 - 5 ); you can accept the defaults
for now.

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