Have you ever thought about like all the stuff that happens when you click a link
or you open an app?
I mean like all the stuff that's going on behind the scenes. Yeah, it's amazing how
it just works. Yeah, it's like magic
It is yeah, but it's not magic
No a technology and a lot of that comes down to something that's actually pretty
straightforward
Right, and we're gonna take a deep dive into that today. Absolutely. We're gonna
demystify one of the big ones
Yes, the LAMP stack the LAMP stack. It's a it's kind of like a secret recipe behind
a lot of the internet
Yeah. Yeah, and the term LMP might sound a little bit technical
But it's basically just a way to describe four essential open source tools that
work together to build and run websites and web applications
Yes
So our mission is to break it down and make it clear why it's such a foundational
piece of the web make it nice and simple
Yeah, and before we dive in yes a big thank you to safe server
Yes, our supporter for this deep dive. They are the experts in hosting this kind of
software that we're talking about
Yeah
And if you are trying to get your head around digital transformation, they can help
you with that, too
Absolutely, if you want to find out more about safe server head over to
www.safeserver.de
All right
So for this deep dive we've looked at a couple of helpful sources the wikipedia
page on LMP and some really user-friendly
documentation from cloud gen
Yeah cloud gen is a platform that's designed to make it much easier to manage web
applications
Okay, so we've got LMP and we've said it stands for a few things, right?
And so our goal is to give you a clear picture of what the LMP stack is and why it's
so important
It's everywhere these days. Yes. So LMP is an acronym, which basically means
It's a word made up of the first letters of other words, right? And so each letter
Represents a key piece of open-source software that all works together. So they're
four main ingredients or ingredients and they all work together kind of seamlessly
so the L stands for Linux and
You can think of Linux as the bedrock the underlying operating system. Everything
sits on Linux everything runs from Linux
So it's like the foundation of a house. Yeah, exactly like the foundation of a
house. Okay
What's interesting is most Linux distributions and by that?
I mean different versions of Linux can be set up to run a complete LMP stack. Okay.
Yeah
historically certain versions of Linux like Debian and Ubuntu became really popular
choices for web servers and back in
2013 they had a significant chunk of the market along with other versions like RHEL
fedora and sent to us
Okay, got it. So Linux is the operating system. That's the L
What about the a the a is for Apache and Apache is the web server. Its job is to
take requests from users
You know when you type a website address into your browser and deliver the web
pages the images and other content back to you
Okay, so it's kind of like the delivery guy. Yeah, it's developed and looked after
by the Apache software foundation
Okay, and just like Linux it's open source meaning it's free to use and can be
modified by anyone. Exactly
Yeah, open source software fosters a huge community of developers who are
constantly improving and contributing to the technology
Yeah, and that's a really powerful thing. What's really neat about Apache is that
it's modular so you can think of it like
Building with Lego bricks. You can add different components or modules to give it
extra abilities
Okay, like supporting different programming languages or handling secure
connections
And while Apache is the traditional a in Lampi, it's worth knowing that other web
servers like in jinx
Pronounce engine X. Yeah can also do this job, which leads us to some variations
that we'll discuss later on
Okay, so L is for Linux the foundation a is for Apache the delivery guy for web
pages
What's next next up is the M which stands for my sequel my sequel and this is the
relational database management system
It might sound a little bit complicated
Yeah
But think of it as a super organized filing cabinet where all of the important data
for a website or application is stored
So if you have a blog all your posts and comments would be stored in my sequel
exactly
Yeah, my sequel lets you structure your data and tables a bit like spreadsheets,
and you can link those tables together
Okay, this makes it really efficient to search for retrieve and update information
Now while my sequel is the original M in lamb air there are other popular database
systems
Murray DB for example was created by the original developers of my sequel
And then you've got post dress school another strong relational database, okay
And even different types of databases like MongoDB which handle data in a more
flexible way
It's interesting to note that my sequel has been owned by a couple of different
companies over the years, right?
And that's influenced its development. Okay, and then we are on to the final letter
P
The P what does that stand for so the P and lamb P traditionally stands for php?
Okay, and this is a programming language that adds a dynamic and interactive
elements to websites
Okay, so instead of just static text and images
Php allows for things like user logins contact forms shopping carts all the things
that make the modern web interactive
So php is what makes the website do things rather than just show things exactly php
is a server-side scripting language
Which means the code runs on the web server itself and it generates the HTML that
your browser then displays
It's often embedded directly within the HTML code
Historically pearl was really popular for this kind of web development, and it's
known for its strong abilities and working with text
Python is another very versatile language that can be used for many different
things including web development, okay?
So how did this particular combination of Linux apache my sequel and php?
How did it become so popular in the first place right so the term LMP itself was
coined back in 1998?
Okay, by a guy called Michael Coons in a German computer magazine and he put it
forward as a way to highlight a powerful set
Of free and open source tools that could be a real alternative to the expensive
commercial software that was available at the time
So it was about having a cost-effective and open solution exactly yeah
And the idea really took off
Thanks in part to the promotion by companies like O'Reilly media and the developers
of my circle LMP became one of the first really
Successful open source stacks for building websites. Yeah, and it's ease of use and
the fact that it was free
Made it incredibly attractive to developers even today lots and popular web
applications like WordPress and Drupal
Can be easily hosted on a LMP stack
So it's amazing how these core technologies have stuck around for so long well
Yeah, the underlying principles are still very relevant serving web content
managing data and making websites interactive, right?
It's fundamental stuff and because Lampy is open source
It's constantly being updated and improved by a huge community of developers
Yeah, this adaptability has also led to some interesting variations of the original
Lampy stack variations
So like swapping out one component for another exactly because the core idea of Lampy
is about having interchangeable components that work
Well together. Yeah people started mixing and matching based on their specific
needs
Okay, for example, if you're using a Windows computer as your server you might use
WAMP, which is the same as Lampy
But with Windows instead of Linux that makes perfect sense
Then you have Limp which we touched on earlier which replaces Apache with Nginx
Which is a web server often praised for its speed and efficiency, especially when
handling lots of traffic
You might also see LAPP sometimes still called Lampy where MySQL is swapped out for
Postgresql as a database
And there's even WIMP which uses Windows, Microsoft's web server called ICE,
Internet information services
Yeah, MySQL and then PHP, Perl or Python and for those using Macos
There's DAMP with Darwin as the operating system. So it's all about picking the
right tools for the job
Exactly, but the fundamental concepts remain the same. Okay. Now to really see how
Lampy works in the real world
It's helpful to look at how it's managed in a hosting environment
And this is where a platform like Cloudran comes in. Their documentation shows how
they simplify running Lampy applications
Especially if you're just starting out
So if someone's new to this and wants to get a website or a web app up and running
using Lampy
How does a platform like Cloudran make it easier?
Well, the initial setup can often be the trickiest part for beginners and Cloudran
automates a lot of the technical details
okay, for example, it takes care of configuring your domain name with the right DNS
settings and
Automatically sets up and renews those all important SSL certificates using let's
encrypt. Okay
So your website can use that secure HTTPS protocol. That sounds like a huge weight
off your shoulders
If you're not a tech expert, absolutely and Cloudran also gives you easy access to
essential services like MySQL a
Caching system called Redis and the ability to send emails directly, right?
You don't have to install and configure each of these separately
Plus things like creating backups of your apps and your server
Restoring them if something goes wrong and keeping the software up-to-date are all
managed by the Cloudran platform
So you can focus on building your website rather than the nitty-gritty server admin
stuff. Exactly
Yeah
And if you want to run multiple websites or applications Cloudran makes it simple
to host them separately on the same server
So they don't interfere with each other
It even supports different versions of PHP and you can switch between them easily
if your different apps have different requirements
That's really convenient. What about getting your website files onto the server?
Yeah, Cloudran gives you a couple of options. You can use SFTP, which is a secure
way to
Transfer files from your computer to the server
Okay
Or you can even use their built-in file manager right through your web browser
And what if you need to make some specific tweaks to how PHP or Apache are working?
Cloudran allows for some customization
You can often use a file called .htaccess in your website's directory to adjust
certain Apache settings
Okay
For more in-depth changes to PHP or Apache, you can usually find specific
configuration files within the app settings on Cloudran
Okay, so what about those extra bits of PHP code called extensions that some
websites need?
Right, Cloudran's LMP app comes with lots of commonly used PHP extensions already
installed
Covering most needs like connecting to databases or working with images and if your
application needs something specific that's not included
You can often install it yourself. Got it. What about managing the MySQL database?
Is there an easy way to do that? Yes, Cloudran includes a tool called phpmyadmin
It's a web-based interface that makes it much easier to work with your MySQL
databases
Okay, you can access it through a specific link for your app
But for security reasons, it's generally a good idea to disable it when you're not
actively using it
Security first. Absolutely
Cloudran also handles your database and email login details securely, providing
them to your application as environment variables
This makes things more secure and also easier if you ever need to move your app to
a different server
One thing to keep in mind with Cloudran is that the standard PHP function for
sending emails mail isn't automatically set up
So they recommend using a library like phpmailer instead, which is a really common
solution for sending emails through PHP
Are there any other helpful tools that come with Cloudran's LMP setup?
Yeah, it also includes tools like Composer for managing PHP libraries and NPM for
managing JavaScript packages
Which can be really useful if you're doing more advanced web development
Finally if you're running applications like WordPress behind Cloudran's reverse
proxy, which is a security and performance feature
You might need to make a few small adjustments in your WordPress settings to make
sure everything works correctly
so to bring it all together the LMP stack is this incredibly powerful and popular
combination of
Linux Apache MySQL and PHP or similar languages
And it's the engine behind so many websites and apps that we use every day exactly
And by understanding what each component does and how they all work together
You gain a really fundamental insight into how the internet actually functions,
right? It's fascinating
It's pretty amazing that these open source technologies which started as this kind
of alternative have become such a dominant force on the web
Absolutely, and they continue to evolve it makes you wonder what the next big
shifts in this foundational technology might be
That's a great thought for the listeners to consider as open source technology
continues to advance
How might stacks like LMP adapt and what new possibilities could emerge from these
essential building blocks of the internet?
Yeah, it's definitely something to think about and that brings us to the end of our
deep dive into the LMP stack
I hope that was useful. Yes big
Thank you once again to safe server for their support in bringing this explanation
to you
If you're interested in learning more about their hosting solutions and how they
can help with your digital transformation
Be sure to visit them at www.safeserver.de. Yeah, check them out. Thanks for
joining us. Thanks for having me