Datasheet

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WY027-01 WY027-Mercer WY027-v2.cls June 5, 2004 0:44

Getting Up and Running

PHP5 can be installed on a great variety of Web server/operating system combinations, including

under Apache on Windows. The two systems we’re using are the easiest to get working. If neither of

them suits you, of course you can install whatever other conﬁguration you want—you should still

be able to run all of the examples in the book. Refer to the PHP5 manual for more general installation

instructions.

Running PHP5

One of the basic choices to make when installing PHP5 with your Web server is whether to run it as a CGI

binary or as a separate static or dynamic module. CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is a very useful way

to run interpreters such as PHP5. Because of security risks (see the “Running as a CGI” section later in this

chapter for more information), compiling PHP5 as a static or dynamic module is recommended under

most circumstances. Our installations (on Linux and on Windows) load PHP as a separate SAPI (Server

Application Programming Interface) module. On Windows, the ISAPI ﬁlter was used to run PHP as a

SAPI module.

Although it is most common to run PHP in conjunction with a Web server, so that Web pages with a ﬁle

extension such as .php are processed through the PHP interpreter before the ﬁnished page is sent back to

the browser, there is also a command line utility that enables you to run PHP code from the command

line. It is present from any of the installation types we demonstrate. You can ﬁnd plenty of documentation

about it on the PHP site (www.php.net).

Creating and running PHP Web applications in a satisfactory way implies that you are running (or have

access to) a Web server upon which PHP is (or can be) installed, and that the installation has been tested

and runs properly. It also implies that PHP has been (or can be) conﬁgured to support the needs of your

PHP programs. There are a couple scenarios under which these requirements can be achieved:

❑

You are running a desktop or server machine, operating system, and Web server compatible with

PHP, and PHP has been installed and conﬁgured.

❑

You are running a desktop or server machine connected to the Internet, with access to a Web

hosting account supported by a Web server with which PHP has been installed and conﬁgured.

The vast majority of desktop machines run Windows 98, NT, 2000, 2003, and XP. In many cases you can

get a free copy of Personal Web Server (PWS) and install it on a machine running one of these operating

systems. PHP is compatible with PWS, so you can install and conﬁgure PHP on desktop machines

running basic operating systems such as Windows 98. Server operating systems such as Windows NT,

2000, and 200, come with Internet Information Server (IIS). PHP is compatible with IIS, and you can install

and conﬁgure PHP on these machines. Our Windows 2000 installation of PHP5 uses IIS as a Web server.

The majority of Web-hosting computers run some version of Linux, such as Debian, RedHat, FreeBSD,

and so on. The Web server of choice for these machines is Apache. PHP is compatible with Linux and

Apache, and you can install and conﬁgure PHP on these systems, but if you are not in charge of the

Web-hosting computer (and many times you won’t be) you’ll probably have little control over the

installation and conﬁguration. If you ﬁnd yourself in this position (for example, if you’ve been hired to

work on an existing Web site running on someone else’s server), you can simply verify the operating

system, Web server software, and PHP version so you can cope with whatever you’ve have to work with

as you develop your PHP programs.