These local web development servers are fast and free to set up. I always set them up on another computer so they’re available on my local home network without slowing my own computer down. Be careful setting this up on the same computer you want to use to write code, unless you have a blazing fast computer. Even if you have an 8 core loaded with RAM, I still wouldn’t install dev sites on the machine I also use to write code, edit video and produce 3D animations it just slows you down, and besides, if you can afford a nice machine, use your old computer as a dev or buy a $500 box to avoid clogging your desktop and slowing your computer down to the point it’d be almost as slow as developing websites on your remote host — the world’s worst, most inefficient and unsafe way to develop websites.
Here’s a quick run through of my latest checklist instructions and resources to install a new local dev server (web development server) to run WordPress, Symfony, and OpenERP. This also includes installing Webmin. Once you find a reliable dev server that you set up, keep everything updated and you should be great to clone a server to create fresh new dev servers for multiple projects fast and easily.
It’s always a good idea to go through the steps and set up a new Virtual Machine in “Virtual Box” just in case you have to install a new flavor of Linux. As you can see, CentOS and Ubuntu are my favorites, but you should always try and set up a Linux OS closest to the version you are running on your live host and there always seems to be a new technical challenge, especially if your company uses advanced firewalls.
Installing Ubuntu
Good overview to install Ubuntu on VirtualBox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nov2yDIk-4
Settings > Network: Bridge Adapter
Run, choose file — ubuntu-14… -server-i386
System for 64 bit go to Acceleration
Setting up static: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaM9nLvyYDA
Login
sudo nano /etc/network/interface
Change in this file: inet dhcp to “inet static”
address 192.168.0.13 <- your desired internal dev IP ->
(Note the pattern with the masks where zeroes are below)
netmask: 255.255.255.0
network: 192.168.0.0
broadcast 192.168.0.255
gateway 192.168.0.1 <- router ->
dns-nameservers 192.168.0.1
sudo reboot
log back in
ifconfig
ping www.google.com
Install webmin on your virtual machine:
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
at top of file:
#webmin
deb http://download.webmin.com/download/repository sarge contrib
deb http://webmin.mirror.somersettechsolutions.co.uk/repository sarge contrib
Ctrl-X
wget http://www.webmin.com/jcameron-key.asc
sudo apt-key a add jcameron-key.asc
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install webmin
then go to your internal dev IP you set above: 192.168.0.13:10000
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Installing Virtualmin
On FRESH INSTALL CentOS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERM-Ty0jjjQ
Log in:
sudo yum -y update
sudo yum -y install perl
sudo yum install wget
wget http://softwaer.virtualmin.com/gpl/scripts/install.sh
sudo sh install.sh
http://IP_Address:10000
Setting up multiple IP for VMs:
Network Adapter Settings — can have 4 adapters
Set 1 to
NAT – VirtualBox runs own DHCP
Port Forwarding is available, but leave
Set 2 to
Bridged
Promiscuous Mode – will decode packets not meant for machine — select “Allow All”
Leave MAC address set.
Notes:
Internal Network — available to other VMs inside
Host only: 127.0.0.1
Generic Driver: Any OS can recognize
