Apache Friends Support Forum

Hi,

Could you guys suggest software packages that work similar to XAMPP for live servers, As i noticed XAMPP is intended for use only as a development tool as some security features have been disabled.

What would you guys suggest best for a standard joomla intranet server for optimal performance and security. I'm guessing Plesk/CPanel are the main ones?

Any info would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Hi torgock,

torgock wrote:Could you guys suggest software packages that work similar to XAMPP for live servers, As i noticed XAMPP is intended for use only as a development tool as some security features have been disabled.

There is only one free webhosting stack i would recommend (with limitations) for live servers
Zend Server Community Edition

If you want to do serious webhosting (big heavy accessed applications, multiple servers, etc) you should buy the full version of Zend Server which has some great tools for debugging and monitoring.
Another possibility would be to implement and configurate the needed single components (Apache, PHP, MySQL, etc) on your own. Maybe you want to use an alternative HTTP Daemon like nginx or other database systems like MongoDB.

If you want to use Windows as base system for a webserver, there is only one possible because stable solution: IIS.

torgock wrote:What would you guys suggest best for a standard joomla intranet server for optimal performance and security.

I would use a Linux CentOS as base system and install and configurate the needed single components on my own.
Linux Webservers are (in my own opinion) far more stable and performant then windows ones (exept they run into a leap second dead end )

torgock wrote:I'm guessing Plesk/CPanel are the main ones?

That is another topic. Plesk and CPanel are webhosting control panels. They are just needed if you want to make serious webhosting.
I don't think the time to implement them is it worth for a intranet hosting

best wishes,
Altrea

Altrea has made many good points.

I have considerable experience with Windows/IIS and it is a powerful product combo (but costs 'real money') and there is a steep learning curve. It is nothing at all like Apache, but does a good job and is almost bulletproof. (I have 3 production Windows/IIS Servers). I would disagree respectfully with Altrea on that point. If you haven't run both in production environments, its difficult to make comparisons and both have their strengths. There are reasons many global companies have 'fleets' of Windows Servers - it isn't because they didn't do adequate research or were 'fooled' by Microsoft marketing. When you get into big enterprises they tend to have hybrid environments, 'things doing what they do best'. Linux/Open Source and Microsoft products working in relative harmony. One part of that is the single vendor/point of contact aspect of Microsoft products and the depth of support available. Also bear in mind that many companies are happily making money on 'for profit' server, management, and language products; Microsoft, Oracle, ActiveState, IBM (yes they are still alive), Navicat and Zend are among the standouts.

On the Linux platform -- and Control Panels

I particularly agree about Centos for Linux servers. I run 3 different variants of RHEL - RedHat Enterprise Linux (support contractual license), Fedora (desktop/server) and Centos (headless-server only). If you go that route for yourself - you will want to learn about and use Webmin. Its a complete Open Source control Panel for Unix and Linux. (it used to be included in LAMPP, much as phpMyAdmin and Webalizer are now). Webmin has its kin - Usermin (Self-service User Portal) and Virtualmin (Linux/Apache virtualization)

If you are going top to generalized web development, developing and deployment should be done in complete Linux environments, in my opinion.

Good Luck.