I currently have CF 8, and I want to be able to use PHP code also, but in a separate environment. I don't want CF and PHP code intermingling.
I have downloaded WAMP in order to accomplish this, but I can't get it to start (it's just Orange in the task bar).
Why is WAMP in the Orange? On previous installations, I start it, and it turns green. Does this have something to do with CF? When I go to localhost, I go to my CF environment. How do I get to the WAMP localhost?
I have ColdFusion and PHP running on my Windows development machine and my production Linux server. I do not recall having a whole lot of trouble doing so either.
Before the StackOverLords flag this question for being too broad, try narrowing the focus of the question and you will be more likely to get answers that will help you.
You could use a virtual machine as your separate environment if you are really concerned - In which case it would be the normal installation procedure.
However, I cannot think of any reason why having them both installed together would cause you problems (I have had numerous set-ups with them running in parallel on both on Linux and windows systems with Apache and IIS)
I used to have the same issue. I believe what I did was set the CF application server to start manually with Windows as a service. Try disabling CF, restart the computer and if WAMP is running ok you should be able to start CF without issue. IF that works you could probably autostart with delay to avoid having to do it manually each time. I generally don't work in both environments at the same time so it ends up just using extra resources anyway.
Related
I was writing some PHP code for my web application recently. I was trying to test sending an e-mail from a contact form on a local server (by using a variety of methods, including SendMail). None of them worked (though it may be code-related but I don't know yet). I basically restarted Apache/MySQL several times throughout testing. At one point when I was changing the configurations for SendMail, I was unable to re-start Apache & MySQL after stopping them. The icon remained red. Every time I try to start Apache, nothing would happen and the icon still remains red. I tried doing it manually from Services but it's giving me an error. It has always worked in the past, so I am not sure what's happening now or whether or not changing some of the SMTP configurations on php.ini or sendmail.ini and installing these mail server tools messed something up?
Anyone have any suggestions on how to fix/troubleshoot this? I am pretty new to server-side development. I appreciate the help!
It could be a hundred different things, do what welshGaz said and check your logs. If you're still stuck after that, you have the following options:
Uninstall/Reinstall WAMP
Try an alternative to WAMP such as XAMPP
Spin up a virtual environment using virtual box and ubuntu
Spin up a server on Amazon Web Services, Heroku, etc.
These are options are of the last-resort variety, but if you're in a pinch and don't have time to troubleshoot, one of these options might be a faster way to get back up and running.
I think the first place to go would be the WAMP logs. On Windows these can be found under the root_application_install_directory/logs. For example on my Windows 10 machine I can find them under C:\wamp64\logs.
You should find all logs from Apache, PHP etc. placed here. Having a look at those may help you get closer to the cause of your issue and why the server is not starting.
i don't know how to say that in technical terms. and i think this is the reason to why i cant get good answer from Google.
i have xampp on my local winxp machine. i use it for developing websites locally then upload these files to my clients shared hosting accounts.
the problem that in 2 years i have always found differences between how xampp works and how the web server work.
some code work locally but dont remotely and the opposite. also flash behave differently on xampp than the remote web server.
is there is a way i can get the server configuration and use it with xampp like get the server php.ini and use it with xampp?
In fact XAMPP may behave different than your production system's web server.
This might be annoying at first, but it is definitely manageable.
Some thoughts:
Run
<?php
echo phpinfo();
?>
on both systems and check different features.
If a feature of PHP is marked as experimental, just drop it.
In case you need to deploy on different production servers, prepare a script called grabProperties.php and add code which checks essential properties you know to be in use. Output the result in some normalized way, so you may use another script to compare results and prepare a nice report.
Certain features activated in XAMPP are not enabled on most web hoster's server - e.g. Flash support. Before using these features, first ensure they are present on your production system.
You are always free to change php.ini. Thus, you may enable or disable modules in such a way, that you dev system mimics your production system's settings.
I wonder, that Flash problems relate to PHP itself. More likely, problems relate to erroneous code.
That said...
I do write PHP for quite some time. Upgraded XAMPP on dev and Apache/PHP/MySQL on production system several times. But not a single application failed to work after the upgrade.
Several times, I moved from dev Windows and production Linux to dev Mac OS X. Even there, everything worked fine immediately.
Needless to note, that not a single line of code needs to be changed between dev and prodution systems.
The essential point to to write high quality code is based on a defensive style.
Check as much input parameters of as much methods as possible (see assert()).
Log all errors to a log-file and visualize it using your admin backend (see set_error_handler()).
Use type-hints as often as possible (see type-hinting)
Set the maximum error level and code in such a way, that not a single warning appears.
Still unsatisfied?
In case you are still unsatisfied with XAMPP, prepare a virtual machine with VirtualBox, install some Linux edition and enable apache, mysql and php.
If your hoster's server is on linux - which is very likely - there should't be a big problem configuring the virtual LAMP server in a similar way.
I get more and more trouble from running WAMP on my XP computer to solve my local development needs. It feels like as more and more things just go wrong or could not be installed at all to a Windows version of PHP.
I have been looking for an alternative and found AndLinux plus this link.
Would it be a good idea to get an Ubuntu box running virtually on my XP computer to simulate the production web server?
Yes, in case you don't want to use Linux as desktop OS running it virtually in a VM is quite practical. by using the VM's "shared folder" support you can use the same directory for local development using your Windows IDE and serving requests from the Web Server inside the VM.
In the past - ~5 ears ago or so - I used coLinux and wasn't too happy. On modern systems a small Linux VM just works well.
Regarding virtual machines:
Advantages
Isolation: Everything in the VM is completely separate from the host; no cross contamination.
Easy Testing: Most VM software have snapshot and rollback capabilities.
Mobility: If you wanted to, you could easily move the self-contained VM over to another machine.
Disadvantages
Inconvenient: File transfer between the host and guest. Using "shared folders" alleviates this somewhat.
Virtual Hardware: Not good for graphics-intensive programs or other software that relies on certain hardware features (which shouldn't be a problem in this case).
Generally speaking, the closer you can get to the production environment the better. Developing on Windows isn't wrong, per se, but you need to be able to test in an environment which matches production.
If you have the resources on your PC to do it in a VM, that will work just fine. If you don't, running it natively or using a remote server somewhere would also work.
Hope that helps!
Thanks,
Joe
Hello i was wondering if anyone had to install/or is working with Zend Server.
My Question is: If i install Zend Server on a production server will it mess up my existing PHP configuration? Will i have to bring my application offline first or will Zend Server install without problems?
The application must run 24/7 and i need a reliable PHP Stack that will boost performance. Any comments on the performance part of Zend Server? Does it worth the installation?
Thanks,
That's no way to think about handling a production server.
I'm not experienced with the Zend Server product, but I wouldn't just install anything on top of a running production system.
Instead, get yourself a new server that will eventually replace your production server.
Then:
Start with a clean install of your distro of choice.
Install ZS (take notes on exactly what you do)
Install your application and data (take notes on exactly what you do)
Test it thoroughly.
If it works, nuke the server, and repeat 1-4, using your notes.
Once you're satisfied that you can get everything working "from scratch" using your notes, create a plan to migrate from the old server to the new one.
Doing it this way ensures that
You have minimal downtime.
You don't have some mess with ZS installed over the top of some other set up.
You can re-build your server when necessary (you created documentation)
2016 Edit: These days, there are various tools such as chef, ansible, or salt that replace obsessive note-taking with automation. I highly recommend anyone managing production systems learn one or more and use them liberally.
When Zend Server is installed on Linux boxes, it will replace the PHP packages supplied by the distribution, and some other packages which supply some PHP functionality. As tim said, it is better for you not to replace the production server environment on the first round, as not always things will work as expected, even to the advanced users.
Take another machine with similar environment and make it your staging/development environment. This will allow you to play with Zend Server features without actually taking down your production server and sites. At the moment you are sure everything works as expected, and only than, start thinking about changing your production site.
To run multiple LAMP servers on Ubuntu, I use XAMPP for Linux and Bitnami LAMP Stack .
By default, the first works on port 80, the second on 8080. Hence they don't conflict. If you know a little about Apache configuration, and if can write a few simple scripts, you can do many things.
However, doing anything on a production server is dangerous.
Both XAMPP and Bitnami stacks are meant to be development environments.
See timdev's answer, +1 to that.
I want to test some PHP on my local machine running Windows XP Professional. I'm familiar with coding PHP for upload, but not with running a web server.
What is the easiest way to set up a test environment? Step-by-step instructions would be great if you can give them.
(I see WAMP recommended in this thread - thoughts?)
Update - a year later
A little self-promotion: after using XAMPP for a long time, I began to want things it didn't include. (Support for PDO was a big one - every time I tried to enable pdo and mysqli simultaneously, something crashed.) I eventually worked through the process of installing Apache, PHP, MySQL, and PHPMyAdmin individually, and documented the process with screen shots on my blog.
Some of the configuration that I was able to do this way could have been done in XAMPP, but it was only because I had to set things up myself that I discovered new things (like being able to serve files out of c:\whatever instead of c:\program files\apache\htdocs).
On the whole, I'm happier with having installed these items separately. But XAMPP was a good (and easy) package to start with, and served me well while I used it.
(source: apachefriends.org)
Xampp is the simplest. You can setup everything in a Step by Step and if you require further configuration (Virtual Server, extension) you have the normal php.ini and other file in the directory that you can edit yourself.
Here is the Step By Step installation for Windows.
XAMPP from ApacheFriends is pretty simple to set up and use.
note the site appears to be down as at 15:02 UTC on 3rd Dec 2008
note again and it is back!
Instead of WAMP, I recommend XAMPP, for Cross Platform (X), Apache, MySQL, PHP, and Perl, all in one package. It is very simple to setup and use, and like WAMP puts an icon in the system tray to manage it all.
You can get it here: www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html. This site also includes comprehensive instructions to get up and running quickly.
There is even a portable version available at http://portableapps.com/apps/development/xampp.