Apache Overview HOWTO

18. PHP

From the PHP website: PHP is a server-side, cross-platform, HTML embedded scripting language. PHP is a scripting language like Perl, Python or Tcl. It is the most popular module for Apache and this is due to a variety of reasons:

Learning curve is quite low
Great documentation
Extensive database support
Modularity

PHP has a modular design. There are modules that provide support for:

Database connetivity for Oracle, ODBC, mySQL, mSQL, PostgreSQL, MS-SQL server... and many more, check the PHP website.
XML support
File transfer: FTP
HTTP
Directory support: LDAP
Mail support: IMAP, POP3, NNTP
PDF document generation
CORBA

and many more. You only need to compile/use the modules you need.

PHP can be used with Apache, as an external CGI or with other webservers. It is crossplatform and it runs on most flavors of Unix and Windows.

If you come from a Windows background, you probably have used Internet Information Server with Active Server Pages and MS-SQL Server. A common replacement in the Unix world for this trio is Apache with PHP and mySQL. Since PHP works:

with Apache and with Microsoft IIS
with mySQL and with MS-SQL server
on Unix and on Windows

you have a nice migration path from a Microsoft-centric solution to more secure, stable, high performance Unix based solutions (like FreeBSD, Solaris, Linux or OpenBSD)

Next Previous Contents

docs.sk

comprehensive documentation repository

18. PHP