How To Install PHP on IIS 6.0

4thSeptember2007

How To Install PHP on IIS 6.0

posted in IIS 6.0, PHP |

I recently decided to experiment with hosting my own blog and after looking at the various packages available decided that I wanted to use WordPress. However, when it came to installing WordPress, I found that there was a lack of really good documentation available if you wanted to use IIS 6.0 as your web server. I also found quite a bit of contradictory information regarding the installation of PHP and MySQL on Windows 2003 - so I decided to write my own. This is the first of a series of articles which will provide a complete walkthrough enabling you to install PHP, MySQL and WordPress on an IIS 6.0 web server.

At the time of writing, the latest stable version of PHP is 5.1.4. Start by downloading the zip package and the Collection of PECL modules from here :http://www.php.net/downloads.php

#Note: You can use the Windows Installer package but it only installs and configures the CGI version of PHP which is not the best solution for an IIS web server; you should try to use the ISAPI version - if you really want to know more about why this ISAPI is preferable to CGI then I suggest you watch this IIS webcast :

TechNet Webcast: Comparing CGI and ISAPI in IIS 6.0 - Level 300

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032263498&EventCategory=3&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Install and Configure PHP

Start by creating a directory into which you will extract the downloaded PHP files (php-5.1.4-Win32.zip). In this example I’m going to use C:\PHP as my installation directory. Then extract the files from php-5.1.4-Win32.zip into C:\PHP

If you need to use the additional PECL modules then extract the files from ‘pecl-5.1.4-Win32.zip’ into the C:\PHP\ext directory.

Next locate the file ‘php.ini-recommended’ in C:\PHP and rename it to ‘php.ini’ (without the quotes of course)

Open the ‘php.ini’ file and find the line which reads extension_dir = “./” and change it to extension_dir = “C:\PHP\ext”. This tells PHP where the various extensions are located and as you can see the default path in the ‘php.ini-recommended’ file which ships with PHP points to the wrong location, so you need to change it.

You also need to add the location of your PHP directory to the server’s PATH environment variable so that Windows knows where to look for any PHP related executables (such as the PHP extension DLL‘s). To do this Right-click on My Computer, click Properties and on the Advanced tab click Environment Variables. In the Environment Variables dialog box, under System variables highlight the Path variable and click Edit.

Add ‘;C:\PHP’ (be sure to include the semi-colon separator) as shown here and click OK. You need to re-boot the server for this change to take effect.

If you browse through the ‘php.ini’ file you will see an entry describing the ‘cgi.force_redirect’ property. You will also see a statement telling you that if you are using IIS you ‘MUST’ turn this off. However, this only applies if you are using the CGI version of PHP (i.e. php-cgi.exe) Since we are using the ISAPI version of PHP we can safely ignore this - more details here : http://www.php.net/release_4_1_2_win32.php

You may have also seen various IIS and PHP HowTo guides which suggest that you need to copy your ‘php.ini’ and some other PHP related files to the C:\Windows\System32 directory - this is not actually necessary, as I shall demonstrate later in this walkthrough.

Internet Explorer. What's next for IE?

Microsoft still isn't talking specifics in terms of what it plans to deliver as part of the next version of Internet Explorer, IE 8.0. But at the Mix '07 conference in Las Vegas, Chris Wilson, platform architect of Internet Explorer, did share some general directions the team is taking with its next release.

In his "IE Past Present and Future" talk on May 1, Wilson told the standing-room-only audience that he wasn't going to show an IE 8.0 feature list, as he "wasn't allowed to."

However, Wilson did tell attendees that Microsoft is planning to require Web site authors to "opt-in" to standards mode when developing IE 8.0 sites.

"Five years ago, no one in the top 200 Web sites was using standards," Wilson said. "Today it is half of the top 200 Web pages."

Wilson acknowledged that he wasn't sure exactly what form this kind of opt-in would take. But asking authors to opt in will "give us freedom to do some great things," he said. By giving Microsoft permission to make IE 8.0 more standards-complaint, authors will take responsibility for breaking pages.

Wilson said to expect Microsoft to be investing across layout, object model and Ajax development fronts in IE 8.0. Specificially, Wilson said Microsoft is investing in making IE 8.0 more compliant with CSS 2.1 layout standards. Microsoft also is working to make the IE 8.0 object model more interoperable with that used by other browsers, and is looking to provide more client-side application programming interfaces (APIs) to support local storage for mash-ups, Wilson said.

Microsoft is planning to make tweaks to IE that will allow developers to more easily add extensions to its browser, Wilson said. He said Microsoft acknowledged that extensions are powerful but potentially "scary."

He also said to expect Microsoft to continue to invest heavily in advancing its Web development toolbar with the next version of IE.

Wilson reiterated that Microsoft continues to see security as its No. 1 challenge with IE 8.0.

Wilson also noted that Microsoft isn't planning to wait another five years to release its next version of IE (as it did when the company waited five years between IE 6 and IE 7). Last year Microsoft officials said they expected to be able to release new versions of IE every 12 to 18 months, but Wilson said an every-two-year schedule was looking more likely.

Wilson said that a number of people have suggested Microsoft release new versions of IE in service packs or as part of the company's monthly security updates, but that Microsoft has ruled that out, as it would make IE too much of a "moving target."

If Microsoft holds to that schedule, IE 8.0 should ship some time in 2008. In January 2007, Microsoft began gathering feedback from developers on what kinds of features and functionality they'd like to see in IE in the future.

Wilson spent most of his talk focusing on the compatibility vs. standards-compliance connundrum which Microsoft has wrestling with its current and future IE releases. With a half-billion IE users out there, Microsoft takes its responsibility seriously to not break sites without solid reasons, Wilson told attendees.

Any feedback for the IE team as it moves forward with its next release?

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