Linux (Fedora), MySQL & PHP for a new Linux user

[jajtii]

Greetings,

I am fairly experienced in administrating windows servers with PHP and MySQL installed in small production environments. In addition, I administer a CMS on solaris boxes in a large production environment.

Very recently, I decided to investigate Linux as a possible web solution. My initial goal is to simply set up a test box and monkey around with it for a few weeks or months. But, I am running into difficulties, based (I believe) on my limited knowledge of administering *NIX servers.

Books and online searches have resulted in a variety of methods to setup such an installation (LAMP, I believe it is called in the vernacular), including using binaries or using sources and so forth. But, I continue to run into various problems.

Is there a good resource for some basic steps to get me started somewhere on the net? My searches thus far have not yielded anything that has worked verbatim. Is this an unrealistic request? (i.e. is the common 'learning' path to simply start with a web server on a linux box and then move on).

Thanks for your time.

p.s. I am unable to even get past the first step of upgrading MySQL to the newest version.....that step is causing me no small amount of anquish.

[Jata]

I'm not sure there is any standard way of doing this. I managed to get a LAMP setup running just this last week but that was through trial and error. Took a couple of days to sort out.
I think the best thing you can do is describe what specifically is going wrong. I.e. what errors are you getting?

[thaddaeus]

I suggest trying Mandrake Linux to setup the LAMP config, most of it is done for you really, and updating to the newest version is very easy, just run the mandrake update and chose which packages (programs) you wish to update. Also chek into a web tool called webmin which should be avaible on your Fedora cds, it will help with many configuration problems and just makes life a little simpler. To update most rpm based distros (like fedora or mandrake) The Distro should have a package manager built in. Some one else may help you to find it as i have not used fedora before. I also suggest checking out you local book store (borders) and see what they have on learning linux, some of the learn linux in a weekend or O'Riley books will help. I used "Sam's Teach YourSelf: PHP, Mysql, Apache" which i thought was very helpful.

[posterboy]

Here's how I am doing this. Very pleased with it. As things upgrade, there is always a script that does it all for you.

http://www.apachefriends.org/en/

[chrism01]

The usual tool for upgrades on Fedora these days is 'yum' or I believe there's a version of aptget also.
If you get stuck, let us know which versions of Fedora, php, mysql etc you are using and exactly what you tried and exactly which error msgs you get.
We have it working fine at work :-)
I noticed the Apachefriends site mentions that all docs except FAQ are in German, so maybe try this: http://www.icon.co.za/~psheer/book/index.html.gz

[jajtii]

Thanks for all of your responses. Until reading them, it had escaped me (for some odd reason) that the problem was my lack of knowledge on how to upgrade something on my Fedora install.

I will utilize some of the tips above and simply go with a default install (and try to ignore my anal desire to always run with the latest stable release of this and that.)

Once I have a system up and running, I'll then tackle the old upgrade/update issue.

Thanks for the resources and suggestions.

jt