linux distro for local testing

squibs

I host sites excusively on linux servers now, and I am finding too many issues testing locally on a PC, mainly due to the differences in the php implementations.

I want to use an aging PC as a testbed for web development. I believe red hat fedora is the usual choice.

Is there a special distro for web hosting that includes apache, php, mysql, and CPanel (or something similar)? or do I need to install the vanilla fedora and bolt on something like XAMPP (which I have used on the PC)?

Basically I want somehing that will let me configure the whole kit and kaboodle without trawling through ini files if at all possible. PHP and mysql setup, mail setup, etc.

daymobrew

IIRC Red Hat (or SuSE) allow you to choose a 'server' install type. This will probably install Apache, PHP and MySQL, but these can be added via a few clicks in a 'Custom Install' dialog.
The rpms usually have post-install scripts to do most of the configuration for you. With Apache2 the conf files are in a separate dir so that the base httpd.conf doesn't have to be edited by each add-on.

squibs

Thanks - I really don't know my way around linux too well at all.

Rollo Tamasi

why don't you install whatever your host is using as its platform?
Ubuntu is the most popular choice for newbies. It can handle everything you require.

mneylon

Unless you have a dedicated server emulating your production environment locally will be hard to achieve

Fedora is used by some hosting companies, but a lot of us use Centos or RHE.

Ubuntu is easy to install etc., but you won't find many hosting companies offering shared hosting on it.

squibs

Cheers lads - I'll have a cut off of the Fedora install and see what happens.