What is XAMPP?

Acronym       Definition
XAMPP      X (any of four different operating systems), Apache, MySQL, PHP and Perl


I am sure a lot of my friends who know XAMPP very well must be thinking he is stupid who is writing about XAMPP but I think it is a good idea to write about XAMPP for a lot of young web software (webware) developers out there who don’t know what is XAMPP and how it can benefit their software development.
So let’s start with the basics, XAMPP is Free and Open Source Cross-Platform Web Server SOlution Stack. It comes with Apache Web Server, MySQL Database, PHP adn Perl Programming Languages. Together with these there is an SMTP and FTP server included as well.
So what’s special?

The best feature of XAMPP is ease of installation. With XAMPP you don’t need to install each of the individual components of a web server individually and hence the installation is easier and quicker. No need to worry about the PHP configuration or MySQL setup etc.

Also, it is portable and if you don’t want to run XAMPP automatically every time your computer starts; you don’t need to install the services.
Can you run your web server on XAMPP?
My view is why not, you just need to open the ports on your computer’s firewall and you are ready to serve dynamic website and web applications.
So how to install it?
Just download the package from apache friends’ website unzip in a folder on your hard disk. I prefer to put it in the root of the drive e.g. D:\ on my Windows 7 laptop. Now go to the folder and run xampp-control.exe; this will open up a control panel. Click start button in front of each of the components to run them. Once you click start for Apache you can type localhost in your web browser of choice and you will get XAMPP home page. You can now put your web applications in htdocs folder inside xampp folder and they will be served in your web browser.

Thanks
R.karthikeyan

How to Use XAMPP and IIS together

I installed IIS in my windows, it worked…. OMG i just remembered i had installed XAMPP (the windows flavor of Apache, MySQL, Perl and PHP) as well and when i started running it the Apache Server couldn’t get started. When i looked for the issue i could see that IIS uses port 80 for its functioning so Apache of XAMPP couldn’t get started. I guess most of the Web Developers who needs to install both services might be facing this problem, As i did. Today i got a solution for that.
Snap Shots: This is a snapshot when i try to run apache, the service of Apache couldn’t get started. [IIS has already been installed and it doesn't allow to use port 80]


There are two ways to solve this:

• Either change IIS (the harder way)
• Change the Apache config (the easier way)

from both way you’ll achieve the same thing. Personally I went the Apache route and here’s how I did it (using XAMPP ).

Only one way Change the  Default Port

By default IIS uses ports 80 and 443 for HTTP and HTTPS access respectively. By default, Apache also assumes these same settings. By altering two config files in Apache you can easily over-ride this:
Steps to go:
Firstly find xampp\apache\conf\httpd.conf

• Find Listen :80 …. Change to 81 [this tells Apache to listen to all IP addresses on port 81]
• Again find ServerName localhost:80 change it to 81

Secondly find xampp\apache\conf\extra\httpd-ssl.conf

• Find Listen 443…. Change to 442 [This changes the SSL (HTTPS) port to 442 (or again, your port of choice).]

Snap Shot : I edit the two files as mentioned above.

Finally You are done….Enjoy Both Servers at the same time












The Service had been Started after editing 2 files.

NOTE: When You start the XAMPP in browser type : localhost:81



Thanks
R.karthikeyan