XAMPP is a bundled combination of Apache web server, MySQL (or MariaDB) database, PHP server side programming system, for Linux operating systems. (The Windows version has some quirks).

Note: These notes are oriented towards Linux and CentOS 7.

Note: During the installation you need to answer some questions. I typically use the default responses.

The following Linux command(s) install XAMPP.

Note that installation on Windows is not easy. XAMPP installs fine, but Windows wants to control http port 80 and https port 443 and getting around this is not easy.

The usual hack found on the Internet is to switch the ports to, say, 81 and 444 but this creates a lot of complications in developing, testing, and using web systems.

The following Linux command(s) start XAMPP from command line.

On 2019-08-19 the output was as follows.

The following Linux command(s) stop XAMPP from command line.

The following Linux command(s) start just Apache from the command line.

The following Linux command(s) stop just Apache from the command line.

To see if the default installation is working, from a web browser on the same computer, go to the following URL, where CENT1 is the local domain name (and host name) of that computer.

You should see the XAMPP default page.

Now go to another computer on the network. If that page cannot be accessed, then the firewall needs to be adjusted.

The security subsystem SELinux restricts access to other computers so some commands are needed to adjust this.

The following Linux command(s) allow firewall access for http for XAMPP, Apache, etc..

The following Linux command(s) to see what firewall exceptions have been added.

On 2019-08-19 the output was as follows.

There are:

• ssh for SSH remote access
• dhcpv6-client for DHCP via router
• samba for Windows file sharing
• http for HTTP remote access
• https for HTTPS remote access

There is a separate Apache GUI for managing XAMPP but it is not covered here yet.

After the above firewall customizations, the default XAMPP page should not appear at the following URL from another computer on the local network.

XAMPP usually requires configuration after installation and this depends on a lot of architectural decisions of the network, the computers, etc.

After updating certain configuration files, or for other reasons, one may want to stop and start XAMPP.

Of course, you may want your own page and customizations.

The following Linux command(s) edit the httpd.conf configuration file using nano.

Do not change the ServerRoot setting.

Scroll down.

I change the ServerName to match the host name of the computer, in this case CENT1.

Before:

After:

For historical reasons, my web site root on Windows is D:.

The Linux box accesses D: at /media/AX8-DATA. For more information, see Windows file sharing to Linux using cifs .

So I change the DocumentRoot and Directory (for DocumentRoot) as follows.

Before:

I comment out these lines as follows.

Then I add lines so that it appears as follows.

If after the above changes your web site (in this case, on the main Windows computer on the local network), then you may need to adjust access permissions.

To more easily access the error logs I make the following changes using the above method where I have made the logs/CENT1 folder on the Windows machine.