UNIX web development server for virtual machine PC in Windows

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UNIX web development server for virtual machine PC in Windows

I'm planning to build Linux web development server in virtual machine environment on Windows Virtual PC. As I don't have much experience with installing and configuring Linux web servers, I wanted to ask for some advice:

What Linux distribution do you recommend for such server? I want the virtual server to look like real hosting environment.
Do any pre-configured virtual machines for web development exist out there?
Maybe some instruction and tips on configuring?

My requirements for the server are quite standard: latest versions of Apache, MySQL, PHP, probably Python and Postgre.

Thank you.

UPDATE: OK I think I'll go with Ubuntu Server for this.

+3 A:

You can probably go with Ubuntu. It is easy for a beginner and there is plently of documentation on how to install a LAMP stack and later you can move on to other distros.

If you are looking for pre-configured machines, then you can have a look at VMWare Appliances

Alec Smart 2009-08-23 10:52:52

I think this is the best solution if you want a VM.

dimitris mistriotis 2009-08-23 11:35:58

+1 A:

There are lots of prebuilt vmware images that you can use. You might also consider looking at something like Amazon EC2 for which there are lots of off the shelf images.

I would also suggest Ubuntu server as a base OS.

Incidentally there are other virtualisation options in case Virtual PC doesn't recognise those prebuilt image formats (I think those formats are more standardised and interoperable these days, but not sure)...e.g. there is vmware, and there is virtualbox.org

frankodwyer 2009-08-23 10:52:54

Isn't Amazon EC2 the cloud server? I need local VM server.

Sergei 2009-08-23 11:23:22

yes it is however many of the images are excellent and a good place to look for how servers are set up for use with real webapps. Also, though I haven't tried it, I am sure there are ways to run those images locally in a VM and I would suggest looking into that.

frankodwyer 2009-08-23 11:34:23

oh, another point is that these servers are often built using scripts so even if you can't plug and play the image, you can probably build a local vm the same way. For example I use the ec2onrails image, which was adapted from a ubuntu build script.

frankodwyer 2009-08-23 11:36:52

I can't seem to find images to download on the EC2 website. Where are they?

Sergei 2009-08-23 11:39:04

http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/kbcategory.jspa?categoryID=171

frankodwyer 2009-08-23 12:22:58

also check out http://alestic.com/

frankodwyer 2009-08-23 12:24:14

thanks, but I think I won't be using Amazong services any soon. Besides, they're paid.

Sergei 2009-08-23 15:23:20

+1 A:

Debian Lenny - rock solid stability & the most package support
I'm sure you can find some
Use prefork-worker apache, MySQL 5/PHP 5, Postgres 8.4.

meder 2009-08-23 10:55:14

+1 A:

Does it need to be in Linux straight away? You can run (Apache et al) XAMPP locally and get it up and running in 5 minutes.

Preet Sangha 2009-08-23 11:07:50

Of course I have running my custom web development server under Windows. But I need real unix-hosting environment.Thanks on pointing to XAMPP though, it exists for Linux too.

Sergei 2009-08-23 11:19:23

+1 A:

For the distribution I would recommend Ubuntu - you can add all the server software you want from their repositories.

For a virtual machine I'd recommend Ubuntu Server Edition JeOS, as that won't have any un-needed software on it.

Douglas Leeder 2009-08-23 13:13:43

JeOS looks pretty cool, but "no graphical environment" is too hardcore for me, I think :-)

Sergei 2009-08-23 15:18:17

ansaurus

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UNIX web development server for virtual machine PC in Windows

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