Apache

Apache is HTTP server software. Apart from that, I'm not 100% sure what it does, I'm sure once I delve further into it I'll understand. In the mean time, read the Wikipedia article.

There is already quite a detailed article on installing Apache on Ubuntu on one of the Ubuntu community pages. This is the article I worked through and it seems to work fine.

It looks like it is possible to install almost everything you need for your L.A.M.P fun in two simple lines.

sudo apt-get install tasksel

then

sudo tasksel install lamp-server

But that's cheating!!

Anyway, I started this project to learn every step of the process, not to cheat.

Installing Apache2

I followed the Installing Apache 2 part of the article.

Incase you're brand new to using the command line I'll explain a few little things quickly.

sudo

- allows you to run programs with the security privileges of another user

nano

- is a text editing program

cp

- means copy

All reasonably easy once you get used to using the command line.

Editing Apache Configuration

A little further into the article is a section titled Edit Apache Configuration which lead me to another article about securing your Apache configuration. It seems it is safer to run Apache in it's own account. One day I'm sure I will find out why.

Securing Apache

Towards the bottom of the article is the section on Securing Apache which basically explains how to make sure that no one can access your development websites from another machine.

All in all that was surprisingly easy, even though I was blindly following instructions.

A little tip: If you try running a program but forgot to use sudo at the start, you can re-run it by typing sudo and double exclamation marks (sudo !!)