Safe Luxury

I want to download apache server, php, mysql...?

I am learning php and want to download the apache server to my home computer. Is it safe, or does it open your computer to anyone?

Public Comments

1. It's safe if you follow the directions. If your computer is behind a firewall then you'll be much safer even if you mess up. However, if you set it up so it will only accept connections from localhost (127.0.0.1) then it will be very safe.
2. Well, if you are "behind" a router the only people who will be able to reach it are local systems. So yes its safe. If you are not behind a router, be sure to get a good firewall on your system and keep it active. Other wise your "server" will be open to the internet. If you want to assure safety get a router. A router will block inbound traffic and you are not exposed.
3. try this, it is a programme that will automatically set everything up you have asked for, so you can run it on your localhost, test scripts etc http://www.easyphp.org/telechargements/dn.php?F=easyphp1-8
4. > Is it safe, or does it open your computer to anyone? As long as you download Apache from the official servers (go to apache.org), you know you are not getting anything bad. As the name suggests, Apache HTTP server...is a server. It's purpose is to serve websites to the public. Anyone scanning for open servers on computers will find that you have a public web server running on port 80. What I normally do on development servers is to restrict all access to localhost. You can find how to do so from Google (I found http://builder.com.com/5100-31-5076696.html ). Read the documentation and learn how to restrict access using the httpd.conf file. Then you should be fine.