I don't know that much about the subject but i think Apache is an open source web server for Unix based operating systems and is normally used in conjunction with PHP.

IIS is Microsoft's web server and usually runs on Windows machines and is used with ASP and other microsoft technologies.

These setups are not exclusive because i am running Apache and PHP on my Windows XP system.

Hi.

You can use both of the servers to run PHP code.

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- Mitko Kostov

I have both running on my PC. The only thing you need to be aware of is you have to change the port of one of them otherwise they will both try to use port 80, and when you start a local page your web servers will conflict. Normally you change one of them to use port 8080 and call it like this: http://localhost/somepage.php:8080

If you want to easily install Apache on a PC google for a program called WAMP. Not only does this install Apache correctly and PHP and MySQL it also gives you a brilliant front end for making changes and is well worth it since it's free!

I agree, WAMP is probably the best bet since it's a lot easier then installing PHP, MySQL and Apache separately. I would recommend Apache over IIS since it's closer to its native environment. There are certain features that are not available in IIS.

Also the taskbar WAMP menu helps you open the config files quickly for editing. If you want to add a virtual host in Apache file and have that added in your host file too, you can have an identical structure to that on the live server. It would look something like this:
http://sitename/ index.php

as opposed to http://localhost/sitename/index.php where a href="/" would send you to sites root (not neat)

Moreover, it was never easy for me to deal with Mod Rewrite under IIS, but with Apache it works perfectly.

Definitely WAMP!

I hope that helps.
Tim

There's no difference between them, it's just one is open source and the other one is from Microsoft.

Here's the difference, Apache actually works! I used to use IIS, but it can be a headache when installing modules, it's easier with Apache. If you're using a Windows system, check xampp.

Agree, Modules on IIS are a pain

Use XAMPP instead of WAMP. In my opinion its better

What do you find better about XAMPP? Just curious, as I've only used Wampserver.