Linux Apache/PHP Stack Installation Tutorial

This tutorial will take you through the process of installing the Postgres Plus Apache / php Stack on your computer

A database is a powerful tool on its own, but quite often it is invisible to the actual end user. Databases are used all over the place, and often they are used for the same type of general purpose - things like building a Content Management System (CMS) that can be used as an Information Portal for your organization, or creating a Wiki. Because these types of things are very common, there are a number of products available that bundle together all the components that you will need to do this for yourself. The idea is that you don't need to go through all the effort of developing these capabilities for yourself, you just install what you need and start working. For you to get going, there are some pre-requisites. Obviously, you'll need a computer with an operating system. This brings us to the Application Stack.

The first component of the stack is the operating system, Linux - you already have that (or you wouldn't be reading this).

The next component is the database, Postgres Plus. You need the database to hold the information used in your CMS or Wiki (or whatever).

You need a web server as well, Apache is an open source web server, this is what handles taking the data from your database and serving it up over the internet or intranet.

Finally, you need a programming environment. This is what is used to manage the programs that work with the web server and database, and if you are really motivated it is where you'll build out new functionality yourself. This is php.

There you have it, the application stack is really all the infrastructure that is needed to implement, develop, manage and maintain your database backed web enabled enterprise.

There is a simple 3 step process that you need to start taking advantage of available CMS and Wiki projects. The first is that you have a database installed. If you have not already done this, this tutorial will show you how.

The next step is that you install and configure your application stack, that is what this tutorial will show you.

Finally, you'll install the CMS, Wiki, or whatever other project you need. You can see the tutorials for these in the sidebar to the left.

So, now that you have your operating system and database set up and working, you need to download and install Apache and php

You will be asked if you want to save the download for installation later, or whether you want to open the archive and start the installation process right away.

The installer is compressed for quicker downloads, so once the download is complete, you'll need to use your compression/uncompression tool of choice to uncompress the file

postgres@edb:~/downloads> tar -zxvf pgplus-8.3-phppgadmin-bundle-x32.tar.gz
pgplus-8.3-phppgadmin-bundle-x32/
pgplus-8.3-phppgadmin-bundle-x32/phpPgAdminBundle_x86-32.bin
pgplus-8.3-phppgadmin-bundle-x32/launchphpPgAdminBundle.sh

Go to the directory you just created, change to superuser, and then execute the installer

postgres@edb:~/downloads> cd pgplus-8.3-phppgadmin-bundle-x32/
postgres@edb:~/downloads/pgplus-8.3-phppgadmin-bundle-x32> su
Password:
postgres@edb:~/downloads/pgplus-8.3-phppgadmin-bundle-x32 # ls
. .. launchphpPgAdminBundle.sh phpPgAdminBundle_x86-32.bin
postgres@edb:~/downloads/pgplus-8.3-phppgadmin-bundle-x32 # ./launchphpPgAdminBundle.sh
Preparing to install...
Extracting the installation resources from the installer archive...
Configuring the installer for this system's environment...


Launching installer...

When the installation begins, you will see the introduction panel below

When you see this panel press NEXT

You will be asked for the location of the folder where to install the Apache / PHP bundle

On pressing NEXT You will be asked for the port number that Apache will run on, 8080 is the default for web servers.

you will presented with a summary of the options you have chosen

You are now ready to install and configure Apache and php

When you see this panel, you are done - you have installed and configured Apache and php, you are now ready to start using them.

You can also Start, Stop and Restart Apache, from phpPgAdmin Server Menu inside the Postgres Plus 8.3 Menu.

It's easy to connect to the Apache Web Server to see if it's working, simply go to your browser and go to the location http://localhost:8080

If the Web Server is running, you'll see this: