Hello, my name is Ricky. I consider myself pretty technical but for some reason or another I've always been loyal to the commercial software I was brainwashed into using with the purchase of a new PC. While Im still not able to completely ween myself from this commercial software for gaming reasons, and the fact im so used to it since the early days of computing, I am making headway again with linux.

All by myself I was able to get CentOS 5.4 installed on a seperate hard drive and to dual boot. I like it like I liked Ubuntu when I first tried it, although I didnt continue using it because it was slow on my old pc. Anyway, I got everything installed and was able to use the version of apache and php that come with CentOS 5.4 successfully. The version was a bit older than the one on the WAMP server I am trying to replace, so I installed Apache 2.2.11. The server works fine by itself, but then I tried to install it with PHP/MySQL and kept getting confused, frustrated, and ultimately a little upset. I forget the exact error but I was following the instructions on php.net for installing php/mysql but it was saying something about not being able to find the header files for mysql when configuring PHP.

I kind of just gave up and just left it as a lonely Apache 2.2.11 server with no other "frills" like php/mysql. Obviously this no es bueno (not good). Basically I am trying to re-create this setup on CentOS 5.4:

Apache 2.2.11
PHP 5.2.11
MySQL 5.1.36

I will be playing with Joomla! on this setup so the php version needs to remain < 5.3.

Any tips, pointers, guides or other information is much appreciated. Please dont hurt me if this belongs in the servers forum.

PS. the reason I am using CentOS is because the VPS host I am planning to use will be using CentOS.

Hi Ricky. If something complains about missing header files, it usually means you need to install the devel package for whatever program it's complaining about. In your case that probably means installing mysql-devel.

I've not used Centos so I don't know the exact details, but open your package manager and look for something like mysql-dev or mysql-devel and install that, then re-follow your instructions for installing PHP.

Also, in future could you make you post title something relating to your problem please? It means that those of us who browse the topics to see what we can help with have a good idea before opening the thread of whether we'll be any use or not!

Cheers,

Steve

Sorry about that. I will next time. I tried installing the version of MySQL I wanted but I couldnt figure out where it installed it.

No problem

Did you have any luck with getting the mysql development files from your repository? I'm fairly certain getting them installed will solve your problem.

Actually - I'd recommend a different route.
Try XAMPP - if you're not going for a production class web server, XAMPP is a crazy easy way to get an apache/mysql/php set up running for development and testing.

Not something I've heard of. Some sort of config tool?

I actually want to learn this so that I will be comfortable deploying a server that will serve as the server of one of my website projects. I may just hold off though and keep a shared hosting account until I really need it. In that case I will probably go with the cPanel "managed hosting" version of my hosting companies dedicated servers.

I have kind of given up on CentOS a little. I got Ubuntu installed where CentOS was and am pleased with it. I may try to learn a few more linux things before trying to make even a testing server again. XAMPP might even be a good learning point who knows, lol. But Ill need DNS, email, FTP, etc on my website server.

More like a pre-built dev package: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

Not really what the OP is looking for, though. Sounds like you want more of an Apache config guide?

http://www.linuxhelp.net/guides/apache/