zen and the art of adding bugs to an empty text file

Mar252010

Build your own LAMP

Filed under: lamp

LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP) continues to retain a large following of developers.

Here's the classic pieces and a good alternative to each:

Linux: Okay, Linux is still great, but FreeBSD has some great features (ZFS, pf). Each has strengths and weaknesses. You should at least make a decision rather than simply defaulting to one or the other.

Apache: Unless you have a need for some esoteric Apache module or CGI, use Nginx instead. It's no contest. Nginx is faster, lighter, more scalable, and simpler to manage.

MySQL: Use PostgreSQL. There's literally only one reason to use MySQL these days: ignorance of the alternatives.

Perl/PHP: Ruby, Clojure, Io... something else. Perl and PHP are a bit long in the tooth, and frankly were rather sloppy languages to start with (and I'm being really generous in that assessment).

Not going to get excessively ranty here. This is just a gentle reminder to folks that just as LAMP has been a great alternative to Windows servers, there are great alternatives to LAMP as well, and they are just as free and technically superior in many ways.

4 comments Leave a comment

On Mar 25 Steven Klassen said:

I'd like to hear the MySQL vs PostgreSQL argument fleshed out some more. I would have agreed a few years ago, but MySQL has come up to speed on the things that used to set it apart.

On Mar 26 Cliff Wells said:

Just take a look at my previous article =) If you can find a way to do that in MySQL that doesn't resort to using an external language, I'll eat my words.

MySQL has certainly made massive improvements, unfortunately all it has done is bring them almost to where PostgreSQL was in 1999 (they still lack the great procedural language support PG had even back then). You have to remember we are talking about a database where the core team didn't think transactions were important until version 4.x. Had PostgreSQL stopped moving for the last decade, then yes, they'd be pretty much caught up. Unfortunately for them, that isn't the case.

On Mar 25 Cliff Wells said:

Also, I should mention that MySQL performance is no longer on par with PostgreSQL (especially on SMP/multi-core), so that's another factor.

http://www.enemyofthestatement.com/postgresql-stomps-mysql

I guess I would sum it up as follows:

Performance: PostgreSQL wins

Features: PostgreSQL wins

Scalability: PostgreSQL wins

Standards compliance: PostgreSQL wins

Ease of configuration: PostgreSQL wins

Ease of installation: PostgreSQL wins

Price: Tie [1]

[1] Actually I'd give this to PostgreSQL too, since you'll need a lot more hardware to scale MySQL to meet PostgreSQL, so there's a higher TCO in hardware and power consumption.

On Mar 26 Cliff Wells said:

Nice article.

http://www.randombugs.com/linux/mysql-postgresql-benchmarks.html

Copyright © 2007, Cliff Wells