Installing a web server
First you might need a clarification of what a web server is, please refer to web server for details. In the following we will assume, you have got a running computer and you are trying to set up the software environment for serving your web pages.
Installation
The instructions for installing depend on the type of computer that you are using.
Debian GNU/Linux
Installing the Apache2 web server requires a single command:
sudo apt-get install apache2
If you wish to make a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server you must install PHP and MySQL:
sudo apt-get install php mysql
Ubuntu Server Edition
The 'htdocs' folder is located in '/var/www'
Installing the Apache2 web server requires a single command with working internet connection in Ubuntu too:
sudo apt-get install apache2
Windows Webserver with XAMPP
This is very straightforward, you simply search for XAMPP on the internet and download the windows installer. Permission problems for Vista have come up, but these are solved by choosing the root of C: drive as the install directory and should be handled for you. It would be beneficial to change it to C:\xampp drive if it isn't already for simplicity. It will also prompt for whether you want to install the Apache web server and mySQL database as services. If you select as a service, the software will be started during the boot; if not, you will need to manually start and stop them from the XAMPP control panel in the program listings every time you need them. Your choice should reflect how much memory and processing power you have. This software package is mainly for sandbox testing of web pages on personal computers, not actual web servers for security reasons.
Related resources
Sun Solaris
The Solaris 10 release includes the Apache webserver. (note: a standard Solaris install includes two versions of the Apache webserver; you probably want to use the newer apache2 version.) First, create a configuration file by using the commands:
cd /etc/apache2 cp httpd.conf-example httpd.conf
Then, edit httpd.conf by reading the comments in the file and making the needed changes. The web server is started using the command:
svcadm enable apache2
The directory /var/apache2/htdocs is where the web pages are stored.
See also