PHP and MySQL on Windows IIS

Rodney_H_

Hi, everyone:

I was wondering if anyone has done any PHP / MySQL development on a Windows IIS environment?

If so, are there anythings that I should be aware about (as this is my first time working on a windows box)?

I will be doing the basic meat and potatoes php functions:

Inserting into DB
Updating items in DB
Selecting items from DB
Creating XML files
Overwriting XML files
Uploading PDF and JPG files

Nothing too fancy, but certainly required.

I am not looking for code samples, unless there are hacks that I should know about specifically for Windows/IIS.

The one thing I seem to recall being problematic was creating and overwriting xml and txt files on Windows, as you can't CHMOD permissions to files on windows (if I am not mistaken...??) ????

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as this project has a very short timeline and its drop dead date is much quicker than I would like :p

Thanks for your consideration and assistance.

bpat1434

I wouldn't use IIS, I'd use Apache personally...

I think you can't chmod, but Windows does require some extra flags when writing/reading to files (read the [man]fopen[/man] manual entry).

Other than that, I'm not sure about IIS. I don't like it, too weird to use. I find Apache much more usable (although if LightTPD would finish a full windows port, I'd use that...)

Doug_G

You are not mistaken, there is no chmod in windows. Generally a server admin makes any permission adjustments.

I have an XP Pro development box with MySQL 5.x from mysql.com, and IIS with isapi php 5.0.4 and do most work in phpEclipse. Alongside is a Fedora server with the FC4 distributed MySQL 4.x and php 5.0.4. In testing quite a few php apps like mambo, coppermine, zencart I haven't run across any problems on one system vs. the other.

I've been using IIS since IIS1.0. Since IIS4.0 it's been a very good web server. Just keep your windows OS up to date and pay attention to security. I host with a large hosting company (50,000 plus sites) that is all windows servers. They also provide php/mysql and it's nice to do NET in one page, ASP in another, and PHP in another, using Access, MySQL And SQL Server databases as required. IIS is extremely stable.

Rodney_H_

Thanks bpat and Doug.

The set up I will be working with is as follows:

Server 2003 SP1 server
IIS 6.0

Bpat indicates that I would be better off with Apache. Can I install Apache on this set up?

OR...

Doug indicates I will be able to run my upload, fopen/fread/fwrite, and mysql_query scripts as I would normally so the benefit is to leave it alone and I would have the option of ASP and .NET, too.

Any last bits of wisdom here for me guys?

Thanks.

bpat1434

It's completely up to you. I find apache to be more user-friendly than IIS, and hosting is cheaper. I don't like MS's language(s) so I don't use them.

Fiscally speaking, Apache/PHP/mySQL is the way to go. It's cheaper and easier to maintain. If you have no choice, then use IIS. But yes, you could run Apache on Server 2003.

Do you really need .NET and ASP to be available to you? That's the question that runs through my mind as I use Windows and start my testing server. I know I don't use the language(s) so I use Apache instead.

But if what you have works, and it's what is needed, don't change it.