[CentOS] Apache/PHP Installation - opinions

Tue Apr 26 22:38:35 UTC 2016
John R Pierce <pierce at hogranch.com>

On 4/26/2016 3:27 PM, Tim Dunphy wrote:
> I like to use the latest, stable versions of apache and php for my
> clients without having to create a custom RPM every time a new version
> comes out.
>
> So what I'd like to know is it better in your opinion to install from
> repos than to install by source as a best practice? Is it always
> better to use puppet, chef, ansible etc even if the environment is
> small? I'm sure this is a matter preference, but I would like to know
> what your preferences are.

I would setup your own private yum repo, with RPMs built from source, 
ideally built to run in /opt/yourstuff or /usr/local or something, as 
you prefer, so they don't collide with any system packages..     once 
you've got the rpm build down, unless there's major architectural 
changes in the package, it shouldn't take more than fetching the latest 
tarball and run your rpm build script, then test it on a staging 
platform, when it meets your requirements, post it on your repo, and 
have your sites update via yum...

I've never gotten into the puppet/chef/etc stuff cuz every one of the 35 
servers and VMs in the development lab at work is a different custom 
configuration, so I config them by hand, its not that much work in my 
environment.  For CentOS VMs, I generally install from the minimal ISO, 
then copypasta a few yum commands to get all my favorite tools onboard, 
and past that its a custom configuration of this java plus that database 
server and whatall user accounts this app environment needs, doesn't 
take a half hour to build a new system this way, and I don't have to 
build them that often (maybe a couple a month at most?).


-- 
john r pierce, recycling bits in santa cruz