Portable website for a web developer

How to take a local version of your website with you?

In this post I will describe such a helpful thing as portable web complexes or web servers. A big plus of them is that you simply can install and run them both on a PC and from an exterior hard drive or adobe flash drive.

Such a web server can be handy even now, in times of general “internetization” and the accessibility of hosting services — to your liking, because with it you can:

• Have a local version of your website;

• Work on your web project anytime and anywhere;

• To not be dependent on the absence/occurrence of the Internet and the Internet connection speed;

• Show your website on any computer from external drive;

• And much more that you come up with.

1. USBWebserver

USBWebserver includes:

• Apache;

• MySQL;

• PHP;

• PhpMyAdmin

Installation is completely simple: download the archive from the official website, unpack the archive, run the .exe file. Installation is completed. Now you see is a simple and clear GUI for controlling the complete web complex. The assembly is very easy to manage. Constantly supported by the developers community that eliminates glitches and issues with versions. 

The main disdvantage is that it is compatible with Windows only.

2. Xampp

Includes:

• Apache;

• MariaDB;

• PHP;

• phpMyAdmin;

• OpenSSL;

• XAMPP Control Panel;

• Webalizer;

• Mercury Email Transport System;

• FileZilla FTP Server;

• Tomcat;

• Perl

During the installation process, you can choose what components to install or not – pick what you need.

A big advantage is cross-platform build, which is stable, reliable and functional.

Around the official website, it is explained that it is possible to start out from a flash drive, but there is no direct indication or research to the USB or Portable version.

3. Easyphp

The official site provides 2 assemblies: e-devserver – it is merely for external media and e-webserver.

e-devserver includes:

• Php;

• Apache;

• MySQL;

• PhpMyAdmin;

• Xdebu;

• other useful programs.

It can be easily installed on external media and then run without problems.

Notice: before you free the 80th port – Apache refuses to start out in the complex. This note is relevant for many web machines, but not for every option. Usually, port 80 on a standard user computer is occupied by Skype, and if your web server you are using swears at port 80, first remove the corresponding checkbox in Skype settings. In case everything is normal there – look for what else is sitting about this port.

4. Open server

The composition of the full version is very impressive and is described on the developer’s site.

For this reason, we will list those features not included in the package:

• Git;

• MongoDB;

• Rockmongo;

• PostgreSQL;

• PhpPgAdmin;

• ImageMagic

Everything you need for the server part in the basic and sophisticated versions is available.

Swinging after clicking the “No, just download” button is long and tedious (the first button with a voluntary donation is the turbo button of the server’s upload speed.) At the end of the download, the speed dropped to 15.2 KB\s, so that I was incredibly “happy”. For comparison, the Xampp package of about the same weight was downloaded in a moment. In fact, a very unpleasant residue remained. Although, undoubtedly, the complex is assembled powerfully.

5. Denwer

Composition:

• Apache + SSL;

• PHP + Xdebug;

• MySql;

• PhpMyAdmin

It supports multiple projects. To download from the official site, it is necessary to sign up, and then wait for the download connect to the e-mail you specified. Plus, maybe, even to find it in the “Spam” folder of your mail box, which is honestly cautioned on the developer’s website and they also suggest you to check this folder for the reputation of the expected notice. Denwer is a pretty old development, and the developer did not trouble creating a windowed GUI. Everything in the dark window of the 2 emulator and the holder icon. What could be right.

I want to note that these web things, naturally , are not firmly mandatory. Some people could possibly have used to other tools, or generally still place all the components manually.But in my rather dense experience with local web servers, these showed maximum stability and reliability when working with external media.