General help

Thgere are two different questions here 1) what suits me on my local machine, and 2) what do I need on a server for a production site?

Let us assume that your local machine is a Windows 7, could be anything, does not matter. You can use IIS, no need to install Apache. You can use PHP plus the Windows dlls like fastcgi.dll etc. You can install that without too many dramas. Then you need the MySQL, as suggested above. You can use Apache, but it is not essential.

OR

You might want to use the Moodle Windows installer, which is based in Xampp. My history with Xampp is not a happy one so I find it difficult to recommend it, but if you want a single one stop shop, it is probably the better option.

One major drawback of Xampp is that it is resource hungry and not suitable for any more than about 25 or 30 users. If it is just on your local machine, then that is never going to be an issue. Another, more dramatic problem, is security.

To use a structurally weak shell like Xampp for a production site is just asking for trouble. There are a number of security issues in Xampp that have yet to be addressed and therefore using Xampp on a production site is NOT recommended. 

To get the maximum benefit from Moodle, set it up using Apache, PHP, MySQL, phpMyAdmin. If you are using a Windows Server, then you can use IIS, PHP, with additional dlls, and MySQL or MSSQL. In this case, do you really need Joomla or Drupal? The servers themselves plus Moodle should provide sufficient security to prevent most hacks. You won't stop a serious cracker, but you should prevent "kiddie hacks".

Irrespective of your server configuration, I suggest for the local machine to use the Apache, PHP, MySQL, phpMyAdmin configuration. This way you can use the private Moodle as a test bed. You can unzip and open upgrades there and when you are happy they work as they should, using FTP, delete the existing production Moodle code and replace it with the code directly from the upgraded private Moodle, just retain the config.php file, never delete that when doing this. Upgrade the test site several times before doing the production site, see if you get the same response when you log in the first time.

Jay,

Moodle is a website - it has to run on a computer that is accessible to other computers on the network - either on your school's network (intranet) or a much bigger network, the internet. For Moodle to be able to be used by all your students it has to be installed on a computer that all your students can connect to via your schools' network or the internet. That computer has to be big and powerful enough to be able to handle lots of concurrent connections from multiple users when all your students login to Moodle at the same time during a class. Those computers are called servers - they are designed to, and have the right hardware that can handle large amounts of traffic. In other words, lots of students logging into Moodle at the same time.

Your own desktop computer (pc) on the other hand, is a single-user computer. It only expects one user - you - to use it. It's not designed to handle lots of students and lots of concurrent connections from those students (it doesn't have the right hardware and software). So if you try to run Moodle on your pc your students are going to experience lots of performance issues and it is going to be very slow. Then you're going to complain that Moodle is crap!

If you wanted to get from Ahmedabad to Khambhat, which is about a 60 mile trip, you wouldn't use a bicycle. You would probably go by car or train. The same applies with Moodle: if you want to teach 50 or 100 students in a class you need to use the right equipment for your Moodle site - a real web server, not a laptop or desktop computer.

The only time you would install Moodle on your desktop computer (or laptop) is when you want to use it as an single-user "offline" development machine where you create and test your courses and training content (or write code if you're customising Moodle). The advantage of this is that you don't have to be connected to your schools' network when you want to work in Moodle. This can be useful when you want to do something in Moodle while you are "offline" (not at school). Example, you could work on a course outline while you're at home or on the train... The important thing is that this is not the instance of Moodle that your students will use. In other words, it's not your production instance of Moodle. Xampp is ok for this "offline" usge.

The Xampp package is just a "lazy mans" installer that installs the Apache, MySQL and PHP components on your desktop computer. It's an easy way to install all the background technologies that are required to run Moodle on a pc or laptop. So you can use it to create the local copy of Moodle on your desktop computer - it's the "bicycle" that I described above. But when you want your students to start using Moodle you need the "train/aeroplane" - a real web server where Apache/IIS, the database, the operating system and PHP have all been tuned to be able to handle lots of users - your students. Xampp is not designed for this.

If you want to teach your students using a "bicycle" platform you are going to experience lots of problems which will negatively affect your teaching. Your school needs a "train/aeroplane" that can carry lots of students. It needs a real web server.