The steps here are for use on most Windows platforms, including Windows Server and Desktop systems. From our extensive testing, it seems that the combination of Strawberry Perl and Apache is very solid, but you must be sure to tune Apache for your environment in order to achieve the best performance.

These instructions are for new installations of ApTest Manager. If you are upgrading your installation, you do not need to reinstall Perl nor Apache.

Table of Contents

1 Install perl

Download and install the latest version of Strawberry Perl 5.12 from StrawberryPerl.com.

2 Install Apache

Download and install the latest version of Apache 2.2 for Windows.

3 Install mod_perl

  • Save http://downloads.aptest.com/sperl/setup_spmp as setup_spmp.pl on your system.
  • Execute setup_spmp.pl from a command shell window and answer the questions - it will do its best to locate Apache on your server, but you may need to provide it with a pathname if you have installed in a non-standard location.
  • Note: This process installs DLLs on your server. It may be that your server will need to be restarted in order to recognize these new DLLs. It is safest to do a restart at this point. If you do not, and in the next step Apache fails to restart, it may just be because it is unable to find the DLLs it requires.

4 Enable mod_perl in Apache

  • If Apache is running, stop it (Start->Programs->Apache HTTP Server 2.2->Control Apache Server->Stop).
  • (You may wish to make a backup of your httpd.conf file before making any changes.)
  • Edit httpd.conf (Start->Programs->Apache HTTP Server->Configure Apache Server->Edit the Apache httpd.conf Configuration File, or conf/httpd.conf in your Apache installation directory).
  • Find the section "Dynamic Shared Object (DSO) Support", which should have a set of LoadModule directives in it
  • Uncomment the line that enables mod_expires - this will improve performance.
  • At the end of the LoadModule directives, add the line
    LoadModule perl_module modules/mod_perl.so
  • Find the section that enables Server-pool management:
    # Server-pool management (MPM specific) #Include conf/extra/httpd-mpm.conf
    Uncomment the Include directive so the httpd-mpm configuration is included. Note: this file has server tuning parameters in it. You may want to examine these to ensure they are optimal for the memory and processor your server has available.
  • Test your changes (Start->Programs->Apache HTTP Server->Configure Apache Server->Test Configuration).

5 Confirm Apache, perl, and mod_perl are installed and running correctly

  • Start Apache (Start->Programs->Apache HTTP Server->Control Apache Server->Start).
  • Go to http://localhost/.
  • You should see the Apache 'splash page' if Apache is working properly.
  • Do not proceed unless Apache is working.

Copyright © 2000-2018 Applied Testing and Technology, Inc. All rights reserved.