How to Set Up a Web Server
Every time you go on the internet and open a website, you communicate with a web server. Web pages are stored on online web servers and when you visit a website, your browser asks the web server where the pages are, to release the pages, the web server releases the pages and they appear on your monitor. One of the most popular web servers in use today is the free open source Apache Web Server. You can set up your own web servers to store and serve your web pages online or in your personal computer.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Log on to the internet, go to Apache Friends website and download a copy of Xampp Control Panel package free. You can download it as a zip archive, installer package or self-extracting zip archive. Click the package you want to download, choose where you want to save the file and click Save. The free open source Apache web server is bundled with the Xampp package. See Resources below for more information.
-
2
Go to the location of the downloaded file and using a zip program, unzip or unwrap the Xampp package. This depends on the package you downloaded. You won’t need to do this if you downloaded the installer package.
-
-
3
Click the executable (exe) file or the installer file, depending on the package you downloaded, to begin the installation process if you are installing it to your local hard drive. If you are installing to online server, follow the instruction from your service provider and copy the unzipped folder (see Step 2 above) to the appropriate online location. The Xampp installs to Programs/XAMPP in your local hard drive, unless you manually change the location.
-
4
Go to Start, All Programs and Xampp. Verify that the package installed all necessary components including Perl, Php, MySql, PhpAdmin, FileZilla, Mercury Mail Server and PgAdmin.
-
5
Open your favorite browser and type http://localhost/security or http://127.0.0.1/ security. Follow the on-screen instructions and enter your administrator username and password to secure your copy of Apache web server.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
If you are not familiar with zipped archives, download the installer package and click to install directly on your local hard drive. Choose the default settings unless you are highly computer literate.
You can also use Apache2Triad package to install Apache web server on your computer. They work the same way. Simply download and install as in the steps above. See Resources below for more information on Apache2Triad.
If you don’t have zip archiver installed in your computer, download the 7-zip archiver free. See Resources below for additional information.
Security is a concern when running a web server either online or in your local computer. Be sure to change the password and username by going to http://localhost/security immediately after installation.
