Installing a PHP application server

To run PHP pages, you need the PHP application server, which is open-source software available on the web. Editions of the application server exist for Windows, Linux, UNIX, HP-UX, Solaris, and Mac OS X systems. The application server works with the following web servers: Apache, Microsoft IIS, Netscape and Sun ONE servers, and almost all web servers that support the CGI interface.

You can download the PHP application server from the PHP website at www.php.net/downloads.php. With PHP 5, the MySQL extension that allows PHP to work with a MySQL database server is not installed or enabled by default by the Windows installer. You must install and enable it separately. For instructions, see Installing a PHP application server (Windows) in Getting Started with Dreamweaver. For more information on the MySQL extension, see the PHP website at www.php.net/manual/en/ref.mysql.php.

If you’re a Macintosh user, you can use the PHP application server installed with your operating system. For more information, see the following websites:

• www.macromedia.com/go/php_macintosh/
• http://developer.apple.com/internet/opensource/php.html

For more information on the application server, see the PHP documentation, which you can also download from the PHP website at www.php.net/download-docs.php.

After installing the PHP application server, create a root folder for your web application. See Creating a root folder for the application.