Setting up a Testing Server on Windows
Building a proper testing server can make a giant difference in the efficiency of your development. I personally use WampServer. I have used several other packages, but found that WampServer made the job easier than anything else I have worked with.
Installing the server
1.Download the source files and install
First download WampServer. It is bundled with a windows installer, and has logical defaults, so just follow the installer instructions and accept all of the defaults.
2.Configure apache
WampServer makes configuring apache and php easy for anyone. Once wampserver is installed you will see a new icon in the taskbar that looks like a hump. Click on this and the Wamp menu will pop up.
Click apache, then apache modules from the submenu. A list of available modules will display. Make sure that rewrite_module is checked.
3.Configure php
From the main WampServer menu select PHP, then PHP extensions. Make sure the following extensions are checked:
- php_pdo
- php_pdo_mysql
4.Test out the server
Open the WampServer menu and click restart all services. Then click on the localhost link. Your browser should open up, and if all goes according to plan it will display the wampserver welcome page. If not you may want to check out the WampServer forum.
Working with the server
The fact that this content management system must be installed in the root of the account presents a challenge if you develop multiple sites on your server. In a production server this is not much of an issue because you can just install it in a subdomain.
If you are only going to work on one site at a time the solution is simple. Just install it in the root of the www directory (by default c:\wamp\www).
If you are going to work on several sites at once you can do one of two things (I have done them both).
The simplest is install the cms copies in different folders in the www folder.
Then when you want to work on one site:
- go to (wamp menu) apache > httpd.conf.
- find the line: DocumentRoot "c:/wamp/www/", and change this to the folder you want to work with
- restart the server
The more complicated but much cleaner aproach is to create vhosts. I would search the wampserver forum for more info on this subject.
