When you do homework assignment of a web design/programming class, you often need access to a web server that has all the necessary tools. For people with reliable high speed Internet connections, that’s not a problem. However, not everyone can access the Internet all the time to do homework assignments.
A solution is to run a web server locally. There are several methods to run a web server locally. Apache, PHP and MySQL all have “ports” to Windows, which means you can convert any Windows box into a web server. However, doing so often requires administrative rights, and the process is fairly complicated.
Another solution is to use a virtual machine running a web server. This is a rather interesting concept. A virtual machine is an instance of a PC that is completely emulated within a “host environment”. A host environment is essentially the environment that a computer physically boots to. For most people, this is a Windows environment.
The operating system used by a virtual machine is called a “guest operating system”. There is really no restriction of what can run as a guest operating system. For our purposes, the guest operating system is Linux. Furthermore, it also includes Apache, PHP, MySQL and other essential components for web serving.
Through the use of a virtual machine that is configured as a web server, it is easier to develop and test web pages and scripts. No network connection is necessary, and nothing needs to be “installed”.