Jalaj P. Jha Technical & Miscellaneous Ramblings

PHP Development Setup in Breeze – Uniform Server

I still remember the day (in fact days) when I was restlessly trying to get IIS make working with PHP, then integrate with MySQL. After failing a lot I decided to go for Apache Web Server for Windows and succeeded though not too easily. It's not that PHP/MySQL installation is really tough job (I went tough for me, at least) but not an easy one too.

That was my first experience. Now getting a PHP development Setup up on a Windows machine for me is as easy as unzipping a file thanks to Uniform Server.

Sized at about 7MB, Uniform Server packs in Minimal installation of Apache, PHP, MySQL, Perl, PHPMyAdmin & PHPMyBackupPro. Just unzip the contents from EXE archive to the root folder of drive. A folder named "Uniform Server" would be created which contains the entire collection. 

Execute the Server_Start.bat present in the Uniform Server folder and a admin panel starts up from where you can manage the complete setup. MySQL can be started and stopped from this interface. You can restart the services or shutdown the server too. Configuration settings for Apache, PHP, Admin panel, MySQL, Virtual hosts can be done though this interface.

This interface also carries links to various tools as PHPMyAdmin, PHPMyBackupPro, Download Manager, Error Log Viewer, Win - Unix Convertor, Clean Server, Server Migration, the first two being opened in separate windows.

Needless to say, once you have tried Uniform Server you will never like to go back to individual installations for Apache/PHP/MySQL. Did I miss something? Yes the Software is FREE. Looking forward to hear your experiences with Uniform Server.