At Web2Works when developing websites on a local environment. This guide is specifically for Mac, we use MacPorts to make installing and upgrading packages straight forward via the command promt.
On successfully completing the full install with the following:
Let get started
- If you haven’t already done so, make sure you turn off Apple’s "Personal Web Sharing" in the System Preferences so that the default Apache server is not running.
- Install MacPorts:
First make sure you install Xcode, a Apple developer toolkit and library that MacPort uses. Follow the installation guide at http://www.macports.org/install.php by downloading the dmg from http://distfiles.macports.org/MacPorts/ (make sure you choose the correct OS X) followed by a simple bummies "Next" Install process.sudo port selfupdate
sudo port upgrade outdated - Install Apache 2
sudo port install apache2
This may take a while installing the apache module and the dependencies. Time to make a coffee..... After install has completed ensure that apache has been added to the auto load:sudo port load apache2
To verify Apache is now running, point your browser to http://localhost/. You should see a page that says "It works!" - Virtual Hosts
Uncomment Virtual Hosts in Apache settings
This is an example of what my Virtual Host file looks like. With exampleNameVirtualHost *:80
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
ServerName 127.0.0.1
ServerAlias localhost
DocumentRoot /Users/john/Sites
<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
</Directory>
<Directory /Users/john/Sites>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>
ErrorLog /opt/local/apache2/logs/error.log
# Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
# alert, emerg.
LogLevel warn
CustomLog /opt/local/apache2/logs/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@web2works.co.uk
DocumentRoot "/Users/ben/sites/website_project"
ServerName website_project.local
ServerAlias www.website_project.local
ErrorLog "/opt/local/apache2/logs/website_project-error_log"
CustomLog "/opt/local/apache2/logs/website_project-access_log" common
</VirtualHost> - Install MySQL
sudo port install mysql5-server
Once this has install set up the database:
sudo -u mysql mysql_install_db5
sudo chown -R mysql:mysql /opt/local/var/db/mysql5/
sudo chown -R mysql:mysql /opt/local/var/run/mysql5/
sudo chown -R mysql:mysql /opt/local/var/log/mysql5/
Activate your MySQL server installation so that it autostarts when you boot your machine:
sudo port load mysql5-server
You can verify it is running by:
ps -ax | grep mysql
Set the MySQL root password, you will be prompted for your existing password ("Enter password:"); since it’s empty, just press Return:
mysqladmin5 -u root -p password <new-password>
Test everything by logging in to the server.
mysql5 -u root -p
Run the interactiev program to secure the MySQL server.
/opt/local/bin/mysql_secure_installation5 - Install PHP
Next install the latest PHP and Apachesudo port install php5 +apache2 +pear
sudo port install php5-mysql
Register PHP with Apache:
cd /opt/local/apache2/modules
sudo /opt/local/apache2/bin/apxs -a -e -n "php5" libphp5.so
Update Apache’s httpd.conf file to enhance the "DirectoryIndex" directive to include additional "index" files. Search for:
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
Also, at the end of the httpd.conf file, add the following lines so that Apache includes the mod_php "AddType" configurations
# Include PHP configurations
Include conf/extra/mod_php.conf
Uncomment Virtual hosts
Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
Set up your PHP configuration files:
cd /opt/local/etc/php5
sudo cp php.ini-development php.ini - Configure PHP.ini
set mysql.default_socket=/opt/local/var/run/mysql5/mysqld.sock
mysqli.default_socket=/opt/local/var/run/mysql5/mysqld.sock
pdo_mysql.default_socket=/opt/local/var/run/mysql5/mysqld.sock
date.timezone = Europe/London
date.default_latitude = 53.826597
date.default_longitude = -1.592889 - Stopping and Starting Apache
Adding aliases to your shell environment will make it easier to start and stop Apache. Edit your .profile or .bash_profile:alias apache2ctl='sudo /opt/local/apache2/bin/apachectl'
This will mean to restart apache you only have to type: apache2ctl restart
Run the following to refresh the profile.
. ~/.profile
Or try:
sudo /opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.apache2/apache2.wrapper start - Install phpMyAdmin
sudo port install phpmyadmin
Add the follow line to the apache htpd.conf file
# Local access to phpmyadmin installation
Include conf/extra/httpd-phpmyadmin.conf
Then create this file in /opt/local/apache2/conf/extra/httpd-phpmyadmin.conf containing this text:
AliasMatch ^/phpmyadmin(?:/)?(/.*)?$ "/opt/local/www/phpmyadmin$1"
<Directory "/opt/local/www/phpmyadmin">
Options -Indexes
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
LanguagePriority en de es fr ja ko pt-br ru
ForceLanguagePriority Prefer Fallback
</Directory>
Finally, you need to set up the phpMyAdmin configuration to access mySQL.
cd /opt/local/www/phpmyadmin/
sudo cp config.sample.inc.php config.inc.php
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'config'; // Authentication method (config, http or cookie based)?
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = 'root'; // MySQL user
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = ''; // MySQL password (only needed with 'config' auth_type)
And that is it one final Restart Apache so that your changes take effect, a painless server install/upgrade.