This article introduces LAMP software stack on zLinux (Linux on IBM System z). Let’s call it zLAMP. We will delve into configuring and starting up individual components of zLAMP and then downloading, installing and testing few LAMP based off the shelf open source applications

1. zLAMP
Introduction
In recent years, web development and deployment has become extremely fast and easy with the usage of open
source software development tools and frameworks. The usage of open source software has reduced capital and
operating expenses for web startups to a greater extend that there is a significant increase in the volume of new
internet startups with applications developed using open source software.
One of the widely used open source stack for web application development is LAMP. As the expansion implies,
LAMP stack consists of a web server (Apache), a database server (MySQL) and a set of scripting languages
(PHP/Perl/Python) that can run on any flavor of Linux. In general it is described as an open source operating system,
open source web server, open source database server and open source programming languages. The Linux,
Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) stack can provide an efficient and cost effective open source architecture to build and
run web applications.
This article introduces LAMP software stack on zLinux (Linux on IBM System z). Let’s call it zLAMP. We will delve
into configuring and starting up individual components of zLAMP and then downloading, installing and testing few
LAMP based off the shelf open source applications.
Why zLAMP Stack
Linux on System z combines the advantages of the IBM mainframes with the flexibility and open standards of the
Linux operating systems. System z’s high virtualization and utilization capabilities make it an ideal platform for
running LAMP based web applications than x86 servers. Linux on System z virtual servers are enabled by default for
vertical scalability, thus making it possible to meet scalability requirements by enhancing with additional processors or
memory dynamically. If the vertical scalability is not sufficient, a new Linux image on system z can be deployed within
minutes without interrupting the operations.
Recently, LAMP based social network Facebook has migrated some of their application modules to non LAMP stack
due to high scaling demands which often caused outages of their x86 servers. Even though LAMP on x86 systems is
highly reliable and cost effective alternative compared to other web development stacks, it can meet extreme
scalability requirements if it runs on top of a hardware (like System z) with high resource (Processor, Memory,
Storage, Networks etc) virtualization capabilities.
In x86 world, different LAMP components might be running on dedicated Linux servers. All these servers can be
consolidated to run on one physical System z machine. This saves power and space in the datacenter, and reduces
the administration efforts while meeting scalability needs very efficiently.
zLAMP Components
The zLAMP acronym points more to a selection of one the "P" elements (PHP, Perl, and Python) rather than to a
need for the inclusion of all of them. It’s more likely to find both Perl and Python useful tools for administrative tasks,
so they'll probably be installed on system whether or not your intent is to use them as an element of LAMP web
development. Enterprise Linux distributions for System z provide the most recent version of each of these packages
available along with the Enterprise Linux version release. Apache, PHP, Perl, and Python are provided as defaults in
the installation of Enterprise Linux, while MySQL requires selection at the time of installation.
zLinux: Clearly, the most important element of the zLAMP combination is the Linux distribution installed
on System z server. With dozens of System z specific distributions available, the choice can be a bit
perplexing. Of the available distributions, however, Enterprise Linux (RedHat or SuSe) has grabbed the
strongest niche in enterprise-grade LAMP web servers for several reasons.

2. Apache Server: Apache web server has been dominant web server since 1996 and has since evolved to
rival other web servers in terms of functionality and performance. In 2009 it became the first web server
software to surpass the 100 million web site milestone. Apache is primarily used to serve both static
content and dynamic Web pages on the World Wide Web.
MySQL Database: MySQL is a multithreaded, multi-user, SQL database management system (DBMS)
MySQL database has grown the world’s most popular open source database with over eleven million
installations worldwide. Free-software projects that require a full-featured database management system
often use MySQL.
PHP/Perl/Python: These are reflective programming language originally designed for producing dynamic
web pages. They are often used to create powerful and yet intuitive web based applications that access
backend systems, content management systems or databases.
The scripting component of zLAMP varies depending on different installations. Most commonly, PHP is
used in conjunction with the other components. However, Perl or Python are also viable options. These
general scripting languages can be modified in open source and embedded with standard HTML code to
execute dynamic or "on-the-fly" website content based on specific actions taken by the user.
With these components, zLAMP offers a full service web development platform through open source that
allows website programmers and designers to create sites rich in customized content.
Configuration
Open source tools have some great advantages over other proprietary tools. Among those advantages is
the general ability to configure the tools by editing a text-based configuration file. Nearly any setting can
be configured and modified by editing these files. That allows the user to create a configuration that's
customized for the particular and unique use of the tool, down to the smallest detail.
As zLAMP components are installed by default along with the OS installation, this section will focus on
configuration of each components. If any of the components are not available (check version commands
to confirm availability) as part of the installation, follow the same installation instructions for x86 Linux
distributions.
Configuring Apache:
The text configuration file for the Apache server in Enterprise Linux is located at /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf.
While the file offers complete customization of all the server parameters, to run apache web server first
make a small modification to the apache configuration file, then start the Apache service (known as
“httpd”), and finally configure it so it will always start when the machine is booted:
cd /etc/httpd/conf
cp httpd.conf httpd.conf.orig
vi httpd.conf
Find the line with #ServerName new.host.name:80 and add below it:
ServerName zlinuxsv
Next, let us start the web server, and configure it so that it will automatically start on the next reboot. Type
the following into the shell window:
service httpd start

3. chkconfig httpd on
To test Apache, bring up a web browser with URL http://localhost or with the IP Address of the zLinux
server. You should see apache test web page indicating that the Apache HTTP server is running
properly.
Configuring MySQL:
Before starting MySQL, you’ll need to create a MySQL configuration file from one of the standard ones
offered. MySQL delivers several example configuration files in its packages. At least four different
variations of the server configuration are available. As root, copy the standard small configuration file to
/etc/my.cnf and add 4 lines to the end of it.
Type the following into the terminal window:
cd /etc
cp /usr/share/doc/mysql/my-small.cnf my.cnf
Next you need to start the MySQL service (called “mysqld”), and set it to always start when the machine
starts. Type the following into the terminal shell:
service mysqld start
chkconfig mysqld on
Now configure user access to the MySQL database. To change root’s password (replace the final
“password” with your root password), give privileges to the web user, and remove the default anonymous
user, type the following into the terminal shell:
mysqladmin -u root password password
mysql -p
This will prompt you for the password you just entered above, and start the MySQL monitor. You will need
to ensure that you also add access based on your specific host name as well (i.e.
web@localhost.localdomain). Type the following at the mysql> prompt:
grant all privileges on *.* to web@localhost identified by 'web';
grant all privileges on *.* to web@zlinuxsv identified by 'web';
delete from mysql.user where User='';
exit
Login as web and test out MySQL:
su – web
mysql –u web ––password=web
This will start the MySQL monitor as the user “web”. Type the following at the mysql> prompt to test it:
show databases;
You should get output that looks something like:

4. +----------+
| Database |
+----------+
| mysql |
| test |
+----------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)
This shows that MySQL has been installed with the initial two databases. MySQL administration tasks
can be performed from a web based interface using phpMyAdmin open source application.
Configuring PHP:
As root, edit the PHP configuration file to point to the correct host and allow access to the web user, then
restart Apache to read changes. Following are the commands to be issued at the terminal:
cd /etc
cp php.ini php.ini.orig
vi php.ini
Change three lines to read as follows:
mysql.default_host = zlinuxsv
mysql.default_user = web
mysql.default_pw = web
Save the document, then continue typing the following into the terminal shell window to restart the web
server and put the changes just made into effect:
service httpd restart
To test PHP, create a test PHP page. Type the following into the terminal window:
cd /var/www/html
vi default.php
Add the following to the file:
<html>
<head>
<title>PHP Test Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
echo “<hr />”;
echo “<p align=center>This is a test of PHP!</p>”;
echo “<hr />”;
?>
</body>
</html>
To test, use your browser to access http://localhost/default.php

5. Out of the Box Applications
Now we are ready to test zLAMP stack by installing and configuring LAMP based applications on zLinux.
This section of the article describes setting up of three off the shelf open source applications a) Wiki b)
Blog and c) Content Management System (CMS) on zLinux (Fig.1).
Fig. 1 Out of the box applications on zLinux
WordPress
Popular open source blog hosting platform WordPress can be setup on zLinux by downloading the source
from wordpress.org website. Unzip the downloaded tar file into a folder which the apache server can
access. Typically, root html document folder (/var/www/html) is used for installation.
Configuration of WordPress includes the setup of a database and the modification of the WordPress
configuration file. WordPress uses a MySQL database to store the data. Therefore a database with
specific user privileges must be setup.
root@msat$ mysql -u root -p
mysql> CREATE DATABASE wordpressdb;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpressdb.* TO "wordpress"@"localhost"
IDENTIFIED BY "<password>";
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> quit
In the example, the “root” user is the MySQL admin who creates the database “wordpressdb” and grants
the privileges to the new user “wordpress”.
Next step is to copy the sample configuration file /var/www/html/wordpress/wp-configsample.php to the
configuration file which gets recognized by WordPress modules, which is /var/www/html/wordpress/wp-
config.php. Adopt the settings for the MySQL database into the configuration file
/var/www/html/wordpress/wp-config.php as user “root” with following attributes:
define('DB_NAME', 'wordpressdb');
define('DB_USER', 'web');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'web');
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

6. Now, restart the Apache HTTP server and access WordPress from the URL http://localhost/wordpress
MediaWiki
MediaWiki, the project behind Wikipedia, is a Wiki implemented in PHP. Download mediawiki packages
from the MediaWiki webpage and unzip all files into a folder which the Apache Web server can access.To
configure MediaWiki start a Web browser and open the URL http://localhost/mediawiki/config. Follow the
instructions on the web page and complete the configuration by clicking “Install MediaWiki!”.
It is important to place the configuration file localsettings.php, which has been created during the
configuration step, into the MediaWiki main folder. This can be opted during the configuration from the
installation web page of MediaWiki or can be manually moved by issuing following command at terminal:
root@msat$ mv /var/www/html/mediawiki/config/LocalSettings.php /var/www/html/mediawiki
Finally, restart the Apache HTTP server and access MediaWiki at http://localhost/mediawiki.
Drupal
A Content Management System (CMS) is used to organize content of different types such as documents,
multimedia files, Web pages or other electronic data. Drupal is a highly popular content management
system (CMS) implemented in PHP. Like other packages explained earlier, Drupal package also need to
be extracted into a folder where Apache have read and write access.
The configuration of Drupal includes the setup of a database and the execution of the installation wizard.
Drupal can use a MySQL database to store the information. Drupal setup with specific MySQL database
user privileges is achieved using following commands:
root@msat$ mysql -u root -p
mysql> CREATE DATABASE drupaldb;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON drupaldb.* TO "drupal"@"localhost"
IDENTIFIED BY "<password>";
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> quit
Now, start the Drupal installation wizard, open a Web browser and access the wizard at the following the
URL http://localhost/drupal. The upcoming wizard guides the user to complete the setup. After the wizard
completed, change the access rights of the Drupal configuration file settings.php.
root@msat$ chmod a-w /var/www/html/drupal/sites/default/settings.php
Once installation is complete, restart the Apache HTTP server and access Drupal at
http://localhost/drupal
Conclusion
System z’s powerful virtualization capabilities make it possible to run multiple Linux images inside a single
System z box. Scalability needs of web applications can be easily met by bringing up additional Linux
images as clones of existing images without interrupting services to end users. Moreover, presence of

7. System z architecture ensures high utilization rates for all the underlying components of a web
application.
Combining the features of open source software and System z, zLAMP based web applications can be
extremely reliable, highly available and zero fault tolerant systems compared to x86 based systems. So
when building your next web application, remember to consider using LAMP on system z. If you already
have one at the center of your mission-critical enterprise, you already know the advantages of using
System z for hosting large scale web applications.
References
1
Web 2.0 with RHEL 5 http://goo.gl/PHxtG
2
WordPress project http://wordpress.org
3
MediaWiki project http://mediawiki.org
4
Drupal project http://drupal.org/
5
phpMyAdmin project http://www.phpmyadmin.net/
6
Linux on System z Distributions http://goo.gl/9jvf1