The document outlines local development environments for Drupal websites, highlighting three main options: Acquia Dev Desktop, AMP (LAMP/MAMP/WAMP) stacks, and custom rollouts. Acquia Dev Desktop is noted as the easiest option for creating and maintaining local Drupal websites, while AMP stacks provide more versatility for custom configurations. Custom rollouts offer fine-tuned control over AMP components but require more technical setup.

1. Local Dev
Environments
Building Drupal websites in a local environment.
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

2. Game Plan
• What
is a local development environment?
• Local development environments:
• Acquia Dev Desktop
• LAMP/MAMP/WAMP
• Old School Roll Outs
• Resource Links
• Questions, Comments?
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

3. Introduction
Local environment?
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

4. What is ‘Local’?
• Local
is a web development environment that
exists only on your computer.
• Not accessible from any other computer
• All files are stored on your computer
• All settings are set from your computer
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

5. Benefits (1)
• Local
Web Development is ideal for:
• Module
and theme creation and editing
• Proof-of-concept websites
• Early website development
• Testing new functionality
• Testing changes
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

6. Benefits (2)
something goes wrong, you can simply delete
the development website on your machine and
start over!
• If
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

7. Local Environment
local environment is composed of four primary
components:
•A
• Files
and folders (Windows, Mac, or Linux)
• Server
application (Apache)
• Database
• PHP
application (MySQL)
programming language (PHP)
!
• The
combination of these environments is known as
a WAMP/MAMP/LAMP stack.
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

8. Server
• The
server application acts as:
• Gatekeeper
for who gets permissions to specific
folders and files
• Enabling and disabling of modules
• Caching
• PHP
!
• Commonly
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology
used application is Apache

9. Database
• The
database application acts as:
• Gatekeeper
for settings and variables for web
applications like Drupal
!
• Commonly
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology
used application is MySQL

10. PHP
• PHP
acts as:
• Programming
language to build web application
such as Drupal
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

11. Files and Folders
• The
files and folders act as:
• The
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology
‘content’ of your website

12. Local Dev Options
Three options, ordered from ease-of-use
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

13. 1
Acquia Dev Desktop
By far the easiest to use for local Drupal development
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

14. Acquia Dev Desktop
• Acquia
Dev Desktop is a free application for
creating and maintaining local Drupal websites.
• Runs on Windows and Mac
• Regularly updated and maintained
!
Dev Desktop is the easiest WAMP/MAMP
stack to set up, configure, and use for Drupal
websites.
• Acquia
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

15. Ideal Uses
• Acquia
• Easy
Dev Desktop is ideal for:
one-click Drupal website creation and
deletion
• Basic (default) database and server configuration
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

16. Screenshot
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

17. 2
LAMP/MAMP/WAMP
More versatile environments for local Drupal development
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

18. AMP Stacks
• AMP
Stacks are preconfigured applications for
your operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux) that
automatically install and configure a database, web
server, and PHP.
• Does
not automatically install Drupal
• Allows for more flexibility and configuration
options
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

19. Ideal Uses
• AMPs
are ideal for:
• Custom
configuration web servers running
Drupal
• e.g. Drupal + ImageMagick
• Web server concurrently running multiple
services
• e.g. Wordpress and Drupal
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

20. Suggested Apps
• Windows
• ?
• Mac
• MAMP
• Linux
•?
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology
& MAMP Pro

21. 3
Custom Rollout
Going old-school, huh?
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

22. Custom
• Custom
rollouts allow fine-tune control over the
choice of AMP components and their configuration
options.
• Involves setting up each of the pieces of a AMP
piecemeal
!
• Usually
involves building a virtual machine (VM) to
house the AMP
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

23. Ideal Uses
• Custom
rollouts are ideal for:
• Non-traditional
web applications
• Porting to a non-traditional web server
• Niche (or picky) web applications
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

24. Demo
Using Acquia Dev Desktop
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

25. Resources
Want to learn more?
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

26. Drupal Links
• https://drupal.org/node/157602
• https://drupal.org/documentation/install
• https://drupal.org/documentation/install/beginners
• http://www.acquia.com/products-services/dev-
desktop
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

27. General Links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apache
%E2%80%93MySQL%E2%80%93PHP_packages
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
LAMP_(software_bundle)
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology

28. Questions?
Comments? Concerns?
Eric Scott Sembrat
Georgia Institute of Technology