An Introduction to LAMP Hosting

Featured article by Calvin Page, IT Specialist

You have probably come across this acronym a few times while researching what type of web hosting would be right for your situation. This short introduction to LAMP hosting will hopefully answer some of the questions you had about it before you decide to go ahead and use it.

What LAMP Means and What It Does

LAMP in its most basic and generic form stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP. There is an almost endless list of variations that could possibly be used, by switching out certain pieces of software for another, but these are the most common.

– Linux can be compared to Windows in some ways, as it is the operating system which allows everything else to run, but it is very different from Windows in almost every other way. It comes in many different “flavours” to suit personal tastes and needs, and can be upgraded with tight security features.

– Apache is the web server in LAMP setups. It handles requests from browsers that come in through the HTTP protocol, which basically means it is serving up your website and content to the end user whenever they visit. Apache is currently used on more than half of all websites and provides a very robust and fast service

– MySQL provides your website with a relational database which is used by almost all types of CMS (content management system) that are currently in use, such as WordPress. MySQL stores data, a blog post for example, and can then pass it on to whichever application requests it. This is a very popular database management system that most likely runs behind the scenes on all of your favourite websites.

– PHP is a programming language that, as with all of the other parts of the LAMP setup, is extremely popular and widely used for web development. It integrates very well with MySQL and the two usually work together in most popular applications.

Why / How You Should Use It

LAMP hosting is not for everyone, which will be explained in the next segment, but it works very well in certain environments. For example, you can buy a fairly cheap VPS (virtual private server) from somewhere like bestwebhosting.co.uk and after a little bit of work to get it set up initially you will have a relatively safe and secure place to host your websites or other web-related applications.

When compared to virtual hosting, a VPS gives you much more control over what happens on your server and who is allowed access to it. For example, you can install your own security measures such as automatically banning IP addresses that have failed to enter the correct password more than three times in a row.

It Can Be Confusing For Beginners

When you first get started with a LAMP setup you may feel completely lost and confused about what to do, which is normal for people with little or no experience using Linux-based operating systems. It is very different to Windows, which is what most people are used to, because most Linux-based operating systems are text-only with no graphical interface.

If you feel like you don’t have the time to learn something new, or are afraid that you will do something wrong, you may want to choose a different hosting option or pay someone else to do the initial setup for you. There are many websites and tutorials online that can help you along in the process though.