Click on the link above to download Apache Directory Studio for macOS. The download appeares in the Downloads folder in Finder. Double-click on the disk image to open it. Drag-and-drop the Apache Directory Studio application on the Applications folder to install it. The Apache Tomcat software is developed in an open and participatory environment and released under the Apache License version 2. The Apache Tomcat project is intended to be a collaboration of the best-of-breed developers from around the world. We invite you to participate in this open development project.
macOS Update: While these instructions still work, there are new posts for recent versions of macOS, the latest being Install Apache, PHP, and MySQL on macOS Mojave.
PHP Update: Mac OS X El Capitan comes pre-installed with PHP version 5.5 which has reached its end of life. After you complete this post, you should upgrade PHP on Mac OS X.
- Downloading the Apache HTTP Server. Historical releases, including the 1.3, 2.0 and 2.2 families of releases, are available from the archive download site. Apache httpd for Microsoft Windows is available from a number of third party vendors. Stable Release - Latest Version: 2.4.46 (released 2020-08-07).
- Download Apache GUI for free. A free open sourced Apache Http Server GUI developed with Java. This project is used to provide a free java based open source Apache Http Server GUI. The solution is deployed as a web application that is accessible through a web browser.
- Apache Software Foundation is very well known for its Apache Web server. This program does almost the same thing, but it also has the support for running Java Servlets. The Java Servlets technology provides a mechanism that extends the functionality of a Web server for the Web developers.
Note: This post is for new installations. If you have installed Apache, PHP, and MySQL for Mac OS X Yosemite, read my post on Updating Apache, PHP, and MySQL for Mac OS X El Capitan.
Mac OS X runs atop UNIX. So most UNIX software installs easily on Mac OS X. Furthermore, Apache and PHP come packaged with Mac OS X. To create a local web server, all you need to do is configure Apache and install MySQL.
I am aware of the web server software available for Mac OS X, notably MAMP. These get you started quickly. But they forego the learning experience and, as most developers report, can become difficult to manage.
Running Commands
Apache Server Downloads Free
First, open the Terminal app and switch to the
root
user so you can run the commands in this post without any permission issues:Enable Apache on Mac OS X
Verify It works! by accessing http://localhost
Enable PHP for Apache
First, make a backup of the default Apache configuration. This is good practice and serves as a comparison against future versions of Mac OS X.
Now edit the Apache configuration. Feel free to use TextEdit if you are not familiar with vi.
Uncomment the following line (remove
#
):Restart Apache:
You can verify PHP is enabled by creating a
phpinfo()
page in your DocumentRoot
.The default
DocumentRoot
for Mac OS X El Capitan is /Library/WebServer/Documents
. You can verify this from your Apache configuration.Now create the
phpinfo()
page in your DocumentRoot
:Verify PHP by accessing http://localhost/phpinfo.php
Install MySQL on Mac OS X El Capitan
Download and install the latest MySQL generally available release DMG for Mac OS X.
The README suggests creating aliases for
mysql
and mysqladmin
. However there are other commands that are helpful such as mysqldump
. Instead, you can update your path to include /usr/local/mysql/bin
.Note: You will need to open a new Terminal window or run the command above for your path to update.
Finally, you should run
mysql_secure_installation
. While this isn't necessary, it's good practice to secure your database.Connect PHP and MySQL
You need to ensure PHP and MySQL can communicate with one another. There are several options to do so. I do the following:
Additional Configuration (optional)
The default configuration for Apache 2.4 on Mac OS X seemed pretty lean. For example, common modules like
mod_rewrite
were disabled. You may consider enabling this now to avoid forgetting they are disabled in the future.I edited my Apache Configuration:
I uncommented the following lines (remove
#
):If you develop multiple projects and would like each to have a unique url, you can configure Apache VirtualHosts for Mac OS X.
If you would like to install PHPMyAdmin, return to my original post on installing Apache, PHP, and MySQL on Mac OS X.
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Apache Tomcat Editor's Review
'Apache Tomcat' is a Web server that is developed by the Apache Software Foundation.Apache Web Server Download For Mac Os X
Apache Software Foundation is very well known for its Apache Web server. This program does almost the same thing, but it also has the support for running Java Servlets.
The Java Servlets technology provides a mechanism that extends the functionality of a Web server for the Web developers. Java Servlets work similarly to Java Applets, but they run on the server side.
The Apache Tomcat server implements the servlets and the JSP (JavaServer Pages). It also has a built-in compiler, which compiles the JSP into servlets. Therefore, it provides an environment that allows the Java code to run in cooperation with a Web Server.
This build is a cross-platform one, because it works on any platform that has Java Virtual Machine installed on. On Mac OS X, it's pretty easy to start the server. You just have to run the startup script from the shell. The file is very intuitively called startup.sh. Shutting down this server can be done by using the shutdown script, shutdown.sh.
Pluses: It's a free software (Open Source). It extends the usual functionality of a Web server. It's cross-platform.
Drawbacks / flaws:
In conclusion: It is a complete server solution that can be either used for Web developing or Web hosting.