PHP, Apache and mySQL config

[jaked]

for my Win XP system I am trying to configure PHP, Apache and MySQL to work together. I am looking at an online tutorial that seems great but it says I need to "Use Notepad to open c:\windows\hosts.sam or c:\windows\hosts.
make sure there's a line in it that says
127.0.0.1 localhost" (or uncomment it if it is in there)...

I don't have such a file or directory in my Windows directory...what is this sam file and how do I obtain it (and do I really need it?)

Thanks!

[jaked]

Hi again...I found a file called "LMHOSTS.SAM" in the C:\I386 directory...It looks like this is the file I should insert this line about localhost. Am I on track here?

A couple of questions...what is the I386 directory all about and what are "SAM" files in particular??

Thanks!

[Anon]

Hi there

i386 i the default installationdirectory for Windows NT/2000/XP...where installation files are stored.
My guess would be that the LMHOST.SAM file your looking for should be in the directory where XP is installed.
Probably c:\winnt\system32...or something like that.

BR
Lars-Inge

[jaked]

Lars thanks for the info. But I really need to figure out the configuration aspect here. Why is this part of the instruction to set up Apache/PHP/mySQL? Does anyone know? Why would I need to make sure that "127.0.0.1 localhost" is in this document? It is nice to now know what i386 directory is and all, but my quest is to get this config. set up properly. any ideas there?

Thanks!

[jtiner]

jake - the lmhosts file is a file that points the os to the correct node on the network. it works like DNS. you must define local host as 127.0.0.1 so that it will come back to your machine when you are working on your machine. ie. in your browser , you type http://localhost it should point to the web server running on your machine, alteratively, you can type http://127.0.0.1 and get the same result. the lmhosts file lets the system know you mean the same thing.

[Anon]

okay, thanks...so the lmhosts.sam file is the right file to insert this line. just wanted to make sure. because my tutorial said I should look for hosts.sam, which I don't have on my system.

Thanks.