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I have a Mac-Mini running MAMP Pro. Can it be used for a production web server for serving a MAMP stack web site? Is it secure enough / powerful enough to manage?

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3 Answers

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a MAMP stack will be as secure as you configure it. As with any similar stack (LAMP, BAMP or WAMP), it will be insecure if you do it wrong.

The question of "Powerful enough" depends entirely on the load that will be placed on it by users. This question can only be definitively answered by running and benchmarking your actual usage. It will vary hugely depending on how the apps being served are written and function.


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+1 for responding. I appreciate the effort. –  Chuck Burgess Aug 23 '10 at 19:43
You're quite welcome! –  gWaldo Aug 23 '10 at 19:50
the difference is that MAMP starts from a default of being insecure, requiring you to go to quite a bit of work to secure it, whereas "real" versions of MySQL, Apache, PHP, etc., default to being quite restrictive, requiring you to only tweak things if your situation demands it. –  EEAA Apr 25 '11 at 21:29
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The Mac Mini is well capable of hosting a low to medium traffic website. The MAMP stack is a problem, though. MAMP is really only meant to be used for development. They configure the security settings in MAMP as to not get in the way of development. Using it in production is asking for problems.

You'd be much better off installing the "real" versions of MySQL, PHP, and Apache. You should be able to do this either using the source tarballs or alternatively through the Macports system.

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+1 This is a better answer than mine. Don't forget the hardware planning, though. –  squillman Aug 23 '10 at 19:31
Thanks for the perspective. This is great feedback. –  Chuck Burgess Aug 23 '10 at 19:41
I'm not sure that I agree with the "only meant to be used for development" statement... I would recommend standardizing your app farm on one or the other, however (all included, or all built manually.) Can you not configure Security via config files? I'm not sniping at you; I legitimately want to know –  gWaldo Aug 23 '10 at 19:49
Check the MAMP website. Do you see them mention production use anywhere? Sure, I suppose you could do a massive re-configuration of all the config files, but why? What benefit would that give over using the stock packages? You're going to have to spend just as much time, if not more, re-configuring everything as you would installing the packages individually. –  EEAA Aug 23 '10 at 19:58
ErikA: Can you clarify what you mean by the "real" versions of PHP and Apache? That's a part of your answer that puzzles me. –  Boogabooga Apr 25 '11 at 21:10
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Sure it CAN be, but the question you really need to have answered is SHOULD you and that will completely depend on what your requirements are.

The answer to security is "however secure your configuration is". The answer to power is a question itself: how big does your site need it to be? You need to do some planning and come up with expectations in order to determine whether or not ANY platform will fit your needs.

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Thanks for the feedback on the planning. I can see the importance of that for sure. –  Chuck Burgess Aug 23 '10 at 19:42
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