Local webserver options

[Brett]

I have used Laragon, Uniserver, IIS, Wampserver and xammps for local development. I am using Laragon and Wamp mostly these days.

As I migrate to a new laptop I am looking at what are my best options. The choices I am considering are using Laragon and/or WampServer on the new laptop OR setting up a PC to run as a server. If that is the case I am happy with Windows or Linux (possibly AlmaLinux). A NAS is not really an option at this stage.

I have researched considerably and am unsure which may be better.

The requirements are to run multiple PHP versions for each local host diectory. I do not want to change PHP versions in Wamp/Laragon each time.

I have read about PHP-FPM, adding Directories to run specific PHP versions, using a separate port for each PHP version and using FastCgi.

While I know there will be a variety of opinions from Forum members, I would like to hear any suggestions.

Thanks

[Hanne B. Stegemüller]

Hi Brett

(I apologize for the bad English language here)

I do not have experience with all the programs/possibilities you refer to - but I have experience with NAS as I bought one a year ago. It runs perfectly.

It has two disks and I've set them up, so that they are like a mirror (maybe the word is bundled?). If one disk gets crazy and will not cooperate the other disk contains the same data.

What is the reason you are unsure about it?

All the best

Hanne, Denmark

[Brett]

19 minutes ago, Hanne B. Stegemüller said:

What is the reason you are unsure about it?

Hanne

There is currently no real need for a NAS as I have several PCs available to run as a server.

[Hanne B. Stegemüller]

2 minutes ago, Brett said:

Hanne

There is currently no real need for a NAS as I have several PCs available to run as a server.

Brett

Okay - now I understand, what you mean.

[JMM]

Brett,

I've been using Abyss Web Server for nearly 20 years.  For only 1 host, their X1 version is totally free.  For 2-to-unlimited number of hosts, their X2 version is reasonably priced (plus a small annual renewal in order to get their updates & maintenance releases).

I believe that (at least some of) the other methods have PHP & databases built-in, but with Abyss they're all separate.  I have MySQL and MariaDB running on the same web server PC (different ports, of course).  And each of the Abyss hosts can use their own separate PHP versions (or the same)... I have some hosts running PHP 8.3.0, and other hosts (due to script limitations) running lesser PHP versions (down to at present PHP 7.4.0 for one of my hosts).

The only hiccup that I had was when I first wanted to run a few websites containing photo galleries, as the script would only run on Apache, because it needs to use .htaccess.  As Abyss Web Server does not use .htaccess, the developers of Abyss Web Sever gave me a work-around, by figuring out some rewrite rules to allow Abyss to emulate .htaccess .

I also had Abyss running on a Hyper-V VM (under Windows 10 Pro) for nearly a decade (since the Windows 10 Betas in 2014), and it ran flawlessly without so much as a hiccup.  The only reason why I switched back to running it on a PC, was due to my photo galleries requiring large disk space, which my VMs couldn't handle.

Just a thought.

 

[Brett]

John

Thanks for the reply.

Which have you tried?

Running on your regular PC or running on Windows/Linux as server?

I prefer on the laptop as it will be with me while I am away as I do not have static IP at home.

[JMM]

I have it running these days on a regular PC, Windows 10 Pro x64, with 8 hosts (down from about 20 hosts for the past decade ).

As a backup, I also have a single host (running on the free X1 version of Abyss) on a Lenovo Thinkpad T440 laptop, Core i7, 8-GB RAM, PHP 8.3.0, MariaDB 10.11.6.  I have Abyss installed as a service, so as soon as the laptop boots up, Abyss starts automatically & is ready to accept connections... no need to log into Windows.

If you want to try Abyss out, you can download the X1 version & install it, then configure it (takes only a few seconds) & then you can test it by displaying the default HTML page.  That way you can test it with your Windows firewall, etc., to confirm you can connect.  Then you can individually add PHP & test a simple PHP script, then move on to installing a DB, then your scripts (TNG etc.).

Personally I use No-IP, and my Thinkpad laptop has its own No-IP name, so wherever I go with my Thinkpad, Abyss running on it is reachable from anywhere .

Don't know if that answered your question(s).

 

[GOGGS]

I just re-formatted my HP Win10 laptop to Ubuntu - it's fantastic.

That being said, I have my TNG resources on AWS (since I have quite a bit of experience there), and it costs me about $6/month with the discounts for pre-paid, etc.

GOGGS

[Brett]

19 hours ago, GOGGS said:

my HP Win10 laptop to Ubuntu

Gary

Are you running a local server on Ubuntu? Is so, which is it?

[GOGGS]

I haven't gotten that far yet since AWS works so well, and I keep my "project" files and the live ones pretty well separated.

When I set things up on the laptop, I'll strive to do the exact setup that's on AWS - pure LAMP, so Apache... Is that what you mean? 

[Brett]

Thanks Gary

I am happy with my current host and looking at local options at this stage.