Linux Tavern

Linux Web Hosting has become the platform for hosting just about any type of website. Linux is one of the most popular web hosting platforms due to its reliability, availability and the lack of licensing fees. Because of this, most large web hosting companies offer Linux on their dedicated servers and usually are using Linux on their shared servers.

But for the beginning webmaster, Linux can be intimidating. Extremely different from Windows, Linux has its own set of terms and acronyms that don’t make much sense to the average Windows user. And when it comes to Linux Web Hosting, the first and probably most important one you will run into is LAMP — but what is LAMP?

What is LAMP?

Linux Web Hosting and LAMP have become almost synonymous — but what is LAMP? LAMP is an acronym for Linux / Apache / MySQL / PHP. These are actually the software components that make up most Linux Web Hosting setups. Each one has its own purpost in providing a complete web hosting platform:

Linux: This is the operating system that the web server is running. Linux is a freely available, open source operating system that is developed by many independent programmers from all over the world and coordinated over the Internet. Originally developed as a free replacement for the UNIX operating system, Linux is very similar to UNIX and has many of its advantages — stable, secure, customizable — that make it an excellent web hosting platform. Basically, this is your underlying operating system that runs the web server and provides the environment for all the other software running on the server.

Apache: Apache is the actual web server program that is running in a LAMP setup. A web server is the software that delivers the web pages to your computer and web browser. When you are surfing the Internet with a web browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, your web browser actually talks to the Apache web server software and requests the web pages that you are viewing. Apache is the most popular web server program on the Internet today and is available not only for Linux but also for most other operating systems.

MySQL: MySQL is the database management software that runs on a LAMP based web server. Many websites are now termed “dynamic” sites. This means that when a web page is requested, it is built dynamically each time. Any changes made to a dynamic web page are seen immediately by any web surfers when they request the page. The data for a dynamic web page is usually stored in a database such as MySQL so that it can be retrieved using standard SQL (Strucured Query Language) Queries. There are other SQL databases available (such as Oracle and MS SQL Server) but MySQL has become popular on Linux web servers due to its open source status and low cost.

PHP: The P in LAMP stands for PHP which is also an acronym. PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. While that sounds very complicated, basically it is a simple scripting language that can be inserted directly into your HTML pages. The Preprocessor part just means that when a web page is requested by a web browser, the web server (Apache) first sends the page through the PHP software which “preprocesses” the page and replaces any PHP code with HTML. It can be used for many things, but the most common use is to perform a database (MySQL) query and put this data into the HTML page.

Now that we have a technical understanding of LAMP, you’re probably wondering why you want it and do I need to be a technical genius to use it!

LAMP: Why Do I Want It?

Although all this technical mumbo jumbo about LAMP is great, what can be done with LAMP? Since all the components of LAMP are open source and freely available (usually no licensing fees), it has become the preferred hosting platform for all the great open source web software available on the Internet. Content Management Systems (CMS) such as PHP-Nuke, Xoops, and Geeklog all run on LAMP. Ever want to run a discussion forum? PHPBB is the most popular forum software on the Internet and it runs on LAMP and is free. How about a Blog? Wordpress, also open source and free, is an easy to install and use Blogging software that runs on LAMP. Most of the web application software available on the Internet today runs on LAMP web hosting platforms and is also free. Plus, they are easy to install — most have progressed to the point where all you have to do is download the web application, upload its files to your LAMP web server, and open a setup page in your web browser. That’s it — not any more difficult than installing software on your windows based home computer.

How to get a LAMP web server

Getting a LAMP server has never been easier. Signup for a cheap, shared web hosting account — that’s pretty much all there is to it. Most web hosting companies run Linux and Apache on their shared servers and most of their web hosting accounts include PHP and MySQL. You will definitely want to check before you sign up for an account, but usually you will get a LAMP setup with most shared hosting accounts. Sometimes, the lowest priced account may not include a MySQL database and you may have to choose the next higher level account. Also, you’ll want to check how many databases are included for free — although you will probably not need more than one database, it doesn’t hurt to be able to setup a second or third one if available for free.

Whether you just want to start your own Blog or are looking to create the next great dynamic web application, LAMP web hosting will give you the tools you need — and best of all, it’s free.

Technorati Tags: Linux Web Hosting, LAMP, PHP, MySQL, Apache

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 25th, 2005 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Linux Hosting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.