LAMP stack

LAMP, as the name suggests is a typical model of software subsystems (historically Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) bundled together to give a platform on the top of which web service based and similar applications may be deployed.

Why LAMP?

1.      Components are largely interchangeable. The software subsystems may vary, but since Linux, Apache, MYSQL and PHP are free, this combination is considered to be most common.  Other common variants are:

·         LAPP - Linux, Apache, PostGreSQL, Perl/Python/PHP

·         WAMP - Windows, Apache, MySQL, Perl/Python/PHP

·         MAMP - Macintosh, Apache, MySQL, Perl/Python/PHP

·         BAMP - BSD, Apache, MySQL, Perl/Python/PHP

·         WIMP - Windows, IIS, MySQL, Perl/Python/PHP

·         AMP - no operating system

We may justify why LAMP stack, by listing all the benefit of the components used and beauty is the interchangeability of the components, so choose the benefits you like.

2.      Availability of vast variety of free plugins make it even more lucrative; for example netsniff-ng (free Linux network analyzer and networking toolkit), Snort (an open source network-based intrusion detection system), RRDtool (round-robin database tool), Nagios (offers monitoring and alerting services for servers, switches, applications and services),collectd (a Unix daemon that collects, transfers and stores performance data of computers and network equipment) and  Cacti(web-based network monitoring and graphing tool) etc.

3.      Supports multiple server farm solutions for high loads and better availability. This is possible with additional components like load balancer.

4.      Deployment of applications is straight forward, in most scenarios, it may be copy and paste content. For most of the Linux based system, this is available by default.

5.      Security may not be an issue, being an open source and large user base, problems are resolved faster than what you could expect from other paid products.

6.      You may use various free packages to configure LAMP and similar solutions. One such famous package is XAMPP (cross platform, Apache, MYSQL/MariaDB, PHP, Perl) with vast variety of add-ons available for XAMPP.

Drawbacks of LAMP stack

Most of the time, when we are counting drawbacks of LAMP, we are cursing one of the software component being treated as one of the four layers or how they are integrated.

For example we may say, Apache is not the highest performant today in market, or point some issues in PHP or MYSQL and so on. 

You have to be very careful about choosing the right components, say the functionalities you need in your application need PHP 7.0, but if solution you are going for doesn’t support latest version at all, you may be in trouble (even though it may not be considered as a drawback for you since you know this issue and you will plan accordingly now). 

Alternative Technologies

LAMP is used to serve web content and pretty much everything which is capable of this feature, is an alternative in my opinion, be it the c# and .Net based webAPI’s or Java Servlet API  and so on. But when we talk about alternative technologies, we are generally changing one of the components and comparing them due to a variation in underlying components. For example LEMP stack (Linux, Nginx, MariaDB/MySQL, PHP) is a variant where Nginx replaces Apache. Few of the other variations are listed under “Why LAMP?” section above.

Mean Stack is termed as collection JavaScript based technologies used to develop web applications and I feel the strongest competitor today. It consists Node.js (server side JavaScript execution environment), Express (lightweight framework used to build web applications in Node, MongoDB ( schemaless NoSQL database system, considered far more better than MYSQL and similar) and AngularJS ( JavaScript framework developed by Google).

§  MongoDB is built for cloud and with lesser cost for better hardware today makes it more appealing than MYSQL and related. (But who says DB layer in LAMP cannot be MongoDB !!!)

§  Agreed, Node.js simplify the application development.

Benefits of Mean stack over LAMP stack are covered in lot more depth by Wayner (2015).

References

Brown, M. (2007, August 24). Understanding LAMP and its effect on web development. Retrieved from http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Computer_Science/LAMP.asp

Howitt, J. M. (2010, January 27). What are the advantages and disadvantages of running PHP on Windows [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2145108/what-are-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-running-php-on-windows

Leith, E. (2011, March 28). What are some disadvantages of LAMP stack? [Web log comment]. Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-disadvantages-of-LAMP-stack

LEMP [Computer software]. (2016). Retrieved from https://lemp.io/

Telly, B. (2013, March 08). Re-writing a large web application - alternatives to LAMP [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/189771/re-writing-a-large-web-application-alternatives-to-lamp

Wayner, P. (2015, June 22). LAMP diehards take note: The flexible simplicity of MongoDB, ExpressJS, AngularJS, and Node.js is no joke. Retrieved from http://www.infoworld.com/article/2937159/application-development/mean-vs-lamp-your-next-programming-project.html

XAMPP [Computer software]. (2015, December 31). Retrieved from https://www.apachefriends.org/add-ons.html

Are you a successful Web Developer?

Features the websites are expected to deliver had been ever increasing. As the scope becomes vast so do the opportunities for genii who have the potential to materialize these business needs. Now the question is what makes you as developer and path finder qualified enough to survive in this dynamic domain!!

Well, I have no prescription pills for you today which you can eat and you are good to go. But I may give you glimpses of, in what direction digital world is moving and what is expected today. It may be altogether a different story five years down the line!! It was only in 1990 when the first page was served on the open internet, just in twenty five years, look around where we are. The way content in managed and delivered or consumed is altogether took a different direction. Does that mean you want to be mere a speculator? I assume no, that’s why you are with me here today, right.

Those days are gone, when these tiny websites were used to deliver unsecured content and online content was considered to be optional for big names to be available. Today these websites are serving not only public content but highly confidential material which may worth billions and make an organization bankrupt if leaked. Now the only way left with we developers is to be a hacker. Does is it sounds crazy? But I mean it, the security measures we develop as we evolve to secure content is meant to be tweaked around and hacked at some point of time by someone smarter than the creator. So we need to constantly be one step ahead. The only way to maintain balance for own good is to patch the security hole before someone else find it.

If you have worked with any big service based organization, you must have observed they emphasize and appreciate reusable assets across the verticals and horizontals a lot. We see more and more versatile tools/products/complete solutions floating around in today’s era. Does this mean if you are making something reusable or launching a multidimensional versatile product, you are eating up developer’s job? This may sound crazy but answer is no. The rate with which demand is increasing supply is far behind. It only means we are trying to use resources in a better manner. But if you are kind of developer who is not willing to learn new things and utilize other’s efforts judiciously, in today’s market, it is difficult for you to survive. Yes, you must attain an expertise in a technology but don’t do the mistake to be dump enough and thrown off the business. World is changing around open your eyes.

Many new websites and solutions are launched very often today, but the one which earn more customers are able to survive. Here comes the unspecified and ever changing common sense of developers which they can utilize to make the projects profitable enough and earn repetitive business. You as a developer must create a product keeping usability aspects in mind. This may have included only a better css in past but today it means a lot more. A website may die soon without being device independent and companion iOS and android apps. This also means there is wider scope for developers to exist today in itself.

This may seem an endless topic to discuss but there is a finite shortcut here which you may always keep in mind. Now does it sound like a magic path? Well possibly it is but I call it a pointer, nothing more than that. Right from Archie search engine in 1990’s to google today, master minds are toiling to make it easy for end user to reach content of their interest as fast as possible. Why not keep eyes on search engine ranking logics prevalent the day today!! Google may rate a website better if it is mobile friendly, faster, authentic content wise, secured enough, liked by the mass (and many more).

But remember, these are only some of the parameters you may follow to help realize goals of your client.  If you win your client’s faith you are successful in this domain and remember client is smarter than you always, that’s why they hired a genius like you. If technology and you as a developer are evolving, so are the consumers becoming smarter.



References

Westerwick, A. (2013), Effects of Sponsorship, Web Site Design, and Google Ranking on the Credibility of Online Information. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 18(2), 80–97. doi: 10.1111/jcc4.12006