Test Drupal on a Ubuntu 11.04 LAMP server

There are probably a lot of different ways to test Drupal. I’ll be testing it on a local computer using a LAMP server, in my case Ubuntu with Apache, MySQL and PHP.

Note: this might be a rather technical post.

Steps:

1. Install Ubuntu 11.04
   This step is dead-easy, just download the latest version and either put it on a USB stick or write it to disk. Boot it and follow the steps.
2. Install tasksel
   Required to easily install the rest of the LAMP server. Installing tasksel can be done using sudo apt-get install tasksel.
3. Install LAMP
   Do this using sudo tasksel install lamp-server and away you go. You’ll only have to provide a password for your MySQL sa account.
4. Install phpmyadmin
   For easy database administration do sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin. Make sure to include the phpmyadmin configuration file: 
   1. Add the line Include /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf to the /etc/apache2/apache2.conf file
   2. Restart apache by sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart.
5. Download Drupal 7.2 and extract to /var/www.
6. Make a database for drupal using myphpadmin
7. Then go to http://localhost/drupal-7.2/install.php. Probably the sites/default/files and sites/default/settings.php are not writable, this can be temporarily set using e.g. chmod a+w files. Don’t forget to reset using chmod go-w files.
8. You’re all set!!

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• Testing Apache can be done by trying to access http://localhost.
• Testing php can be done by creating a file in /var/www called e.g. testing.php. Add the content <?php phpinfo(); ?> and restart apache with sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart. Then try to access http://localhost/testing.php.

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Testing phpmyadmin by trying to access http://localhost/phpmyadmin.