LAMP (software bundle)

LAMP is an acronym for a solution stack of free, open source software, originally coined from the first letters of Linux (operating system), Apache HTTP Server, MySQL (database software) and Perl/PHP/Python, principal components to build a viable general purpose web server.^[1]

The GNU project is advocating people to use the term "GLAMP" since what is known as "Linux" is most often the GNU/Linux system.^[2]

The exact combination of software included in a LAMP package may vary, especially with respect to the web scripting software, as PHP may be replaced or supplemented by Perl and/or Python.^[3] Similar terms exist for essentially the same software suite (AMP) running on other operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows (WAMP), Mac OS (MAMP), Solaris (SAMP), iSeries (iAMP), or OpenBSD (OAMP).

Though the original authors of these programs did not design them all to work specifically with each other, the development philosophy and tool sets are shared and were developed in close conjunction. The software combination has become popular because it is free of cost, open-source, and therefore easily adaptable, and because of the ubiquity of its components which are bundled with most current Linux distributions.

When used together, they form a solution stack of technologies that support application servers.

Software components

According to its proponents,^{[by whom?]} the LAMP stack offers a great number of advantages for developers:

• Easy to code: Novices can build something and get it up and running very quickly with PHP and MySQL.
• Easy to deploy: PHP is easy to deploy as files can be edited directly on the server and saved in the document root. By comparison, Java Servlets require that the developer compile the web application into a WAR file and deploy it with a servlet engine such as Apache Tomcat.
• Cheap and ubiquitous hosting: Many inexpensive web hosts provide PHP and MySQL services.^{[citation needed]}

Linux

Main article: GNU/Linux

GNU/Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system kernel. A major emphasis of Linux development is security^{[citation needed]}, which makes it an appealing choice for a web-server application. Like the other LAMP components, Linux is free open-source software which means the source code is provided with operating system, which can be edited according to specific needs. Also, because Linux-based operating systems are Unix-like, a Linux server is more natively-compatible with other server-oriented platforms, such as Solaris and BSD, than non-Unix-like systems like Microsoft Windows.

Apache

Main article: Apache HTTP Server

Apache is a free software/open source web server, the most popular in use.^[4]

MySQL

Main article: MySQL

MySQL is a multithreaded, multi-user, SQL database management system (DBMS) now owned by Oracle Corporation with more than eleven million installations.^[5] Alternatives at this level of the stack do also exist, for example by using PostgreSQL (LAPP) ^[6]

MySQL has been owned by Oracle Corporation since January 27, 2010 through the purchase of Sun Microsystems.^[7][8] Sun had acquired MySQL originally on February 26, 2008.

PHP, Perl, or Python

Main articles: PHP, Perl, and Python (programming language)

PHP is a reflective programming language originally designed for producing dynamic web pages. PHP is used mainly in server-side application software. Perl and Python can be used similarly.

Variants and equivalents on other platforms

Main article: List of AMP packages

See also: List of web application frameworks

With the growing use of LAMP, variations and retronyms appeared for other combinations of operating system, web server, database, and software language.

The equivalent installation on a Microsoft Windows operating system is known as WAMP with an alternative (running IIS in place of Apache) called WIMP.

The equivalent installation on a Macintosh operating system is known as MAMP.

The equivalent installation on a Solaris operating system is known as SAMP.

The equivalent installation on a FreeBSD operating system is known as FAMP.

The equivalent installation on a iSeries operating system is known as iAMP.

A version where Apache has been replaced with the more lightweight web server NGINX is known as LEMP.^[9]

A version where MySQL has been replaced by PostgresSQL is called LAPP.

See also

Free software portal

• List of AMP packages
• XAMPP

References

1. ^ Lee, James; Brent Ware (December 2002). Open Source Web Development with LAMP: Using Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl, and PHP. Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-77061-X. 
2. ^ GNU.org -- Words to avoid
3. ^ Dale Dougherty (January 26, 2001). "LAMP: The Open Source Web Platform". ONLamp. http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2001/01/25/lamp.html. 
4. ^ "Market Share for Top Servers Across All Domains August 1995 - February 2011". News.netcraft.com. http://news.netcraft.com/archives/category/web-server-survey/. Retrieved 2011-02-22. 
5. ^ Top Reasons for Product Managers to Embed MySQL on [mySQL.com]
6. ^ A LAPP appliance on [turnkeylinux.org]
7. ^ Robin Schumacher & Arjen Lentz Dispelling the Myths
8. ^ Charles Babcock, InformationWeek Sun Locks Up MySQL, Looks To Future Web Development
9. ^ Setting Up a LEMP stack on Ubuntu 9.04

External links

• Install a LAMP server on Ubuntu Linux
• Install a LAMP server on Debian GNU/Linux
• Install a LAMP server on SUSE Linux