New to using local - some questions related to workflow

Support
1

Hi there,

it seems that local is really amazingly easy to work with compared to XAMPP and WAMP and other common solutions. However, there are some major questions I have related to the general setup.

  1. Is it possible to run XAMPP while running Local? Are there any known issues with running this combo?

  2. How do I configure apache or nginx in Local to run with actual www urls? I am sure I need to make changes to the host file just like I used to do when I used xampp. Is there a tutorial for that?

  3. How do I change the password for MySQL?

  4. Is there a way to change the setting for the database table prefix? One of the general security recommendations is to not use the default Wordpress database prefix wp_. Is this obsolete nowadays?

  5. And how about the name of the database. I was confused seeing that the name that was generated for the first website I set up in Local was named “local”. Can I choose a name for each database created or do I have to change the name later?

  6. Another question is if it will be fine to replace a database data that was created with Local with a dump that was created on XAMPP and on older MySQL version. Can I just important dump file just like I used to do it with PhpMyAdmin?

  7. How about safety when using Local. I remember that there were a few things I need to do with XAMPP to make it safer, to make sure it wasn’t easy to access the server through my network connection.

  8. Are there any general performance recommendations when running Local. I used to have lots of issues when running XAMPP. It got really slow over time and I needed to do a lot of tweaking on my computer to speed it up.

These are the first questions that came up after installing and running my first test site with Local. I hope you guys can give me some answers soon. I would love to get really productive with Local. :slight_smile:

Warm regards,
Sebastian

2

Hi Sebastian,

Welcome to flywheel, I too am a XAMMP convert so its nice to see these kind of questions crop up. I personally have found Local way more productive for my WordPress sites without ever slowing down my machine!

I’ll do my best to answer your questions, if anyone corrects me it’d be welcome too but from my understanding here they are.

Yes, I don’t see a problem with this at all. Just obvious pointers, ensure the URL is different for your local sites and XAMP sites in your hosts file. As local is running a Virtual Machine in the background you shouldn’t get any port conflicts between the two.

Looking in my hosts file local puts the www. prefix in for each site, so you should be able to simply change the Site URL in the WordPress admin area.

Each site has its own database it seems, I haven’t found the need developing with local to change the MySQL password as its only ever running when the site is running in local. Which calms my security conscious mind.

Definitely something to consider when putting the site live.

There is no easy way to do this via local. Short of renaming each table/database then changing the wp-config file. But again as the VM is running only when local is then I’d only consider this change once live.

I don’t see an issue with this. If you’ve ever done a painful WordPress migration it’ll all be familiar. :slight_smile: The adminer interface does have a import feature.

Nope, the connection between you and the VM is set up as a host only connection. So the only time it’ll be exposed to the net it when your hand out a live link to the site. It is quite click and go!

Oh jeez, I know XAMPP is a pain draining resources when you didn’t ask it to do a thing! With local, its quite the opposite. Just remember to close it safely. You can edit the resources the VM has by loading up virtual box, you can also kill it this way if it ever does chew too much of your CPU’s up.

I hope this helps, I’m sure other members of the community, including the developers, will jump in.

All the best,

Phill

1 Like
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Hey Phill,

thank you so much for your response. This is all good to know and actually, it brings up a few more questions.

XAMPP converts, are we? :joy:

Here my questions:

Where can I change settings for the server (for example httpd.conf) as well as php?

You mentioned this: _You can edit the resources the VM has by loading up virtual box.

It would be great if you could elaborate a bit on how to do that.

By the way, this forum software is amazing! It has such great features. Does anybody by chance know which forum software is running here?

Warm regards from Bali
Sebastian

4

Hi Sebastian,

Oh I use builtwith.com to see what CMS systems or technology sites are using. This community runs on Discorse.

I can’t help with this I’m afraid, I haven’t come across a use case for this at present. Are there any settings in particular you are wanting to change?

If you open up virtual box which should be in your app folder or start menu, then edit the settings for the local-by-flywheel machine. There you can change the RAM and CPU allocation. I’m unsure if this is recommended by the team, but if you’re wanting a it more grunt - go for it!

All the best from the UK!

Phill

1 Like
5

Hey Phil,
thanks so much for your reply!
I shifted to MAMP Pro and I am happy with it. Maybe it’s just me but I feel it is so much easier to configure details that I wanted to be more what I think they needed to be.
I will drop Local for now. Maybe I will get back to it when I have more time to explore.
For now, I think that Flywheel has built it too much with the goal in mind that people will start using their hosting services when they get into using Local. Anyway, that is not a wrong approach but has left me wanting to have more control. I found this sense of control in MAMP Pro.

And thank you for the hin to use builtwith.com
It indeed showed that this site is using Discourse, which seems to be a very interesting system for communities / disussion forums.

All the best!

Sebastian