Manuel Feller

As already mentioned, XAMPP is not a package to be used for production. So setting up NGINX woudl be fast answer given the choices you look at. As usual, things are not just black and white, so you could also use the standalone components of XAMPP that you need.

My first check would be what do I need? In your case I assume a web server, a scripting language (I assume you mainly want to use php, not the also integrated perl in XAMPP) and a SQL database

For the Webserver you can use Apache or Nginx - both run on Windows as well as Linux, and both can run scripting languages. And if you are new to set them up I would say they can have an equal learning curve. For the scripting language it is the choice of what you are experienced with, but I recommend to only install the needed one(s) - as each adds onto the maintenance and hardening efforts. And for the database you can install MariaDB on its own.

The big plus of going through the effort to set them up manually:

• you can patch them independently in case any security issues come up (take them seriously and apply patches timely!)

• you can decide to run web server + scripting engine on one and the database on another machine

Once you know what you need you should then check with the one who maintains the server afterwards (not sure if that is you or an admin in the company you write the application for). Based on that evaluate what of the blow sounds best for (both of) you:

For all above tools I would recommend running them on Linux / WSL2 (WSL = Windows Subsystem for Linux) - as waiting for Windows binaries can sometimes take longer then the Linux ones. And even "just" an intranet application should be taken seriously regarding security. Rouge employees are nothing to underestimate.

It may also be worth looking into the use of containers (e.g. https://hub.docker.com/r/webdevops/php-apache & https://hub.docker.com/_/mariadb), but these should run in the WSL2 (if Windows is needed) or on Linux for best performance. It adds learning about docker and how to connect the two containers (so that they can talk to each other) but also allows you to more easily migrate to other hardware if needed - and takes away some needed setup (e.g. the integration between Apache and php).

Sorry that this answer is a bit longer, but I want to help you find something that works in the long run for you and the company you code for.

Pushover is a nice tool to add push-notifications to your private projects with a little one-time cost - or to your business applications for a monthly per user fee. It has a straightforward API with nearly everything you need to notify you or other users. I started using it years ago when starting to create my Smarthome and am still happy. Also found useful if you want to build prototypes that have notification features as it saves you tons of set up hassle...

I like how easy you can set up, run and extend your software projects with OpenDevStack when you use OpenShift and Atlassian Tools already. It's not for people that run just one project but for companies that do set up software projects on a regular basis - e.g. IT departments or companies that create and run lots of software for their customers.

As a Frontend Developer I wanted something simple to generate static websites with technology I am familiar with. GatsbyJS was in the stack I am familiar with, does not need any other languages / package managers and allows quick content deployment in pure HTML or Markdown (what you prefer for a project). It also does not require you to understand a theming engine if you need a custom design.