Website on the Internet needs a hosting service to function properly. Hosting (or server) is a computer that is rented in whole or in part to provide you with reliable capabilities to launch your website on the Internet and make it available for access by users.
If your site is under development and you want to try it yourself without the need to connect to the Internet, you can turn your computer into a local development server. This way you will be able to test your site as it will look on the Internet, and then you can later transfer it to an external server after it is finished.
In order to be able to turn your own computer into a local server, you will need to install popular local server software, including XAMPP, which is an open source program that helps you with this matter.
In this article, we will explain to you the XAMPP program and how to install it and use it to test your own site. It is one of the necessary programs that you need to use before launching your site.
What is XAMPP?
XAMPP is a program dedicated to developing web applications. It belongs to the open source software community, and it works on computers running Windows, Linux, and Mac systems. XAMPP was developed by the Apache Friends project with the goal of making its features freely available to everyone.
The XAMPP program turns the computer you own into a local server (Localhost) as it contains all the tools necessary to develop websites of all types and details. This local server is completely identical in features to real servers and does not need the Internet at all to work. Everything you need to develop the website will be present on your computer for you to control directly.
But it should be noted here that XAMPP is only suitable for testing websites locally, but it is not suitable for use as a general server for live websites. The main reason for this is that many security features are ignored in this server to simplify and speed up the process of testing and developing websites before actually launching them on a live server.
The importance of XAMPP lies in the following:
- Learn website development from writing codes, database management, and front-end design through direct practical application without the need to purchase expensive server services.
- Entering the world of content management systems such as WordPress and mastering them.
- Test updates in WordPress locally before installing them to ensure that the update is done safely without causing problems .
- Testing websites after developing them before launching them live on the Internet.
- Using, learning and developing databases, without any disastrous consequences that may occur during live work on live sites.
Meaning of the name XAMPP
The name XAMPP in itself has no meaning. Rather, it is an abbreviation of the names of the five basic components that the XAMPP program contains. When the first letter of each component is taken, the name XAMPP is formed. These basic components are:
- X: This letter is an abbreviation of Cross-Platform, and it symbolizes the multiple operating systems supported by XAMPP, as it works on Windows, Linux and Mac.
- A: It is the first letter of the name Apache, which is the most famous free application among servers around the world, and is used to manage data between clients and servers. Apache was initially developed by a group of programmers, and is now managed by the Apache Organization .
- M: is the first letter of the MariaDB database management system, which is derived from the famous MySQL system and supported by the XAMPP program.
- P: This letter refers to the PHP programming language, which is one of the well-known scripting languages that is used by experts and beginners alike to develop websites and communicate with databases.
- P: This letter represents the PERL programming language, which is a scripting language used in systems administration and website development.
XAMPP also contains many other components such as: phpMyAdmin database manager, FileZilla FTP server, Mercury email server, Tomcat JSP server.
Install XAMPP on Windows 10
The XAMPP program was designed to be installed easily and without complexity, and the first step is to download the program’s executable file from the official website . Just choose the appropriate version for the operating system installed on your computer, and download it.
We will complete this explanation in the following paragraphs, considering the operating system is Windows 10, knowing that the installation steps may differ slightly between one operating system and another.
Note : XAMPP may conflict with some antivirus programs you use on your computer.
First, you will need to change the “ User Account Control ” (UAC) settings, which aim to protect the computer from making dangerous changes to it by malware. Because this protection feature will prevent the installation of the XAMPP program on disk C because it is a protected disk designated for the operating system, and this is what you do not want, so it is preferable to cancel it, even temporarily.
To cancel it, search for “Change User Account Control settings” in the Windows search box, as shown in the following image.
The settings window will then open. Slide the notifications slider down until you reach the “ Do not notify ” level as shown in the following image, and then press the “ OK ” button.
Now that you have downloaded the executable file and changed the User Account Control settings, open the executable file to begin installing it.
A window will appear warning you of the possibility of problems occurring during the installation if you do not cancel the User Account Control settings, but if you cancel them as we explained previously, there is no need to worry, just click the OK button to begin the installation process.
The first thing that will open in front of you is the program’s welcome window. Click Next to continue.
After that, a window will appear containing the features that you want to install. Choose all of them or leave them with the default options, or choose what you want from them if there are specific features that you want, but be sure to choose at least Apache and MySQL because they must be present when running the local server.
In the next window you will be able to choose the path where the program will be installed. The default path will be in system disk C, leave it as it is and press the Next button .
The program installation process will then begin, which will take several minutes.
During the installation process, you may see a message from the Windows firewall stating that the program is trying to use networks on the computer. Allow it to do so by clicking the Allow access button until the installation process is complete.
After completing the installation process, a window will appear informing you that the installation process is complete. In this window, the option to run the XAMPP control panel is automatically enabled.
Leave the option as is and press the Finish button to finish the installation process and open the XAMPP Control Panel window.
XAMPP main control panel
The XAMPP control panel helps run and organize all other components in the program. When the XAMPP installation is finished, the control panel will launch automatically.
But if you have deactivated the option to run the XAMPP Control Panel, then you can access it by searching in the Windows bar for the phrase XAMPP Control Panel and then clicking on the Open button to run it.
You can also run it by going to the program installation path: C:\Program Files\xampp
Double-click on the xampp-control.exe executable file to open the XAMPP Control Panel window
Let us learn together about the most important buttons that will appear in front of you in the XAMPP control panel:
- Config: When you click on this button, a window will appear containing some settings through which you can customize the program if you want. For example, you can specify the default text editor and the default browser, in addition to the ability to run some or all services automatically when you run the program, and many others. Most of these settings will never need to be modified.
- Netstat: When you click this button, a window will open containing a list of all the ports that the XAMPP program uses by default, and if they are used by other programs, you must not use the same ports in the XAMPP program so as not to cause a conflict with other programs.
- Shell: This button allows you to launch the CMD command prompt in Windows in order to execute advanced commands, or fix problems in the program.
- Explorer: This button will take you directly to the path containing all the XAMPP files if you want to make any modifications to them.
- Services: This button will open the list of currently running services in Windows so you can stop the service that is interfering with the operation of XAMPP if necessary.
- Actions menu : This menu contains buttons to launch each XAMPP service.
- Admin menu : Each of the Admin buttons in this menu is dedicated to adjusting the settings of each XAMPP service located next to it. For example, accessing the Amin button next to MySQL will take you to the MySQL settings and will open a new window for you in the browser (http://localhost/phpmyadmin/) dedicated to managing the phpMyAdmin database, which you will definitely need to perform any operation on the databases such as deleting, copying, creating, etc. Clicking on the Amin button next to FileZilla will take you to the settings window for the data upload service via the FTP server, which you will use in the process of developing WordPress sites.
Run the local server using XAMPP
To start the local server and run XAMPP, you must first start the Apache and MySQL services by clicking on the Start button next to them.
When the Apache and MySQL services are fully functional and turn green, then you can access the local server through the browser on your computer by typing the word “Localhost” in the browser address bar and pressing the Enter button on the keyboard. You will notice that the basic control page for the XAMPP program opens at the following link. (http://localhost/dashboard/).
This page contains some instructions and clarifications about the program and how to use it, and the most frequently asked questions about it (FAQ), in addition to containing a link that enables you to access the phpMyAdmin service.
All of the above just gets you to the basics of XAMPP, but of course you want to take advantage of it and use it in website development and testing. One of the most important uses of XAMPP, as we mentioned, is to install a WordPress site on the local server for educational and experimental purposes. We have prepared a previous article about all the steps related to the process of creating a WordPress site on the local server using XAMPP .
XAMPP alternatives
There are several alternatives available to XAMPP, the most important of which is a program called WAMP. WAMP also turns your computer into a local server, but it differs from XAMPP in that it is only intended for the Windows operating system, and does not contain support for the PERL programming language.
But other than that, the two programs are similar in many features and characteristics. But the main reason for XAMPP’s greater popularity is the strong software support behind the Apache organization. This made it possess some features that made it superior to WAMP, including:
- Easily move work from your local server to the Internet using features like Filezilla FTP Server, Mercury Mail Server, Apache Tomcat.
- There is a large group of add-ons that make it easy to obtain features that are not present in the XAMPP program by simply downloading and installing them.
- XAMPP supports fifteen of the world’s languages, which has increased its audience, unlike WAMP, which supports only three languages.
Thus, in this article, we have learned about the XAMPP program, which is one of the basic and indispensable programs in the world of developing websites of all kinds, especially if you are new to this field. It allows you to run your sites on a local server and test a local copy of it using PHP code and a Mysql database, and is available for use on any operating system. Therefore, today we presented this introductory and comprehensive article about the XAMPP program, which helps you test your site effectively
