Choose between Leopard Client and Leopard Server?

[appleweek]

Hi All,
I currently use Mac OS X 10.5 Client, but I am looking to set up a personal home Web developer system and trying to choose between sticking with Client or moving to Leopard Server.

First of all, exactly how hard is it to setup a basic MAMP (Mac OS X, Apache, MySQL, PHP) & Apache Tomcat server on Leopard Client??

I just realized Leopard Server has everything I need for Web development pre-assembled, including Apache Tomcat 6.0.18, MySQL Server 5, etc, all of which come pre-configured. But more importantly, they get updated regularly with Apple Security Updates. Even for the stuff already included in Client, Leopard Server provides nice GUI interfaces (eg. Postfix SMTP server). Yes, I know each of these services can be individually installed and configured manually on my current Leopard Client, but it would be nice to get them all together (ala LAMP/WAMP).

Any possible problems of Leopard Server as a general day-to-day OS?

Another mid-way option is to install Server Tools on my current OS X Client. Would this provide the services I need, such as Tomcat and MySQL??

Thanks for any input!

 

[Cromulent]

Stick to client. Or better yet buy a £100 ($200) PC and install OpenBSD on it and use that.

Pretty easy to setup if you are confident using the command line. You'd have to have to use the command line on server anyway so it's all pretty much the same.

The advantage of using an OpenBSD box is that you get a second computer for less than the price of OS X server and one of the best server operating systems available anywhere. It's free too.

 

[hiddenpremise]

XAMPP http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-macosx.html Is an all in one server package that works on leopard client beautifully.

 

[appleweek]

XAMPP http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-macosx.html Is an all in one server package that works on leopard client beautifully.

Thanks! Yeah i've herd of XAMPP but didn't know how far along the OS X release got. Looks promising and looks just like what i'm looking for.

How about Apache Tomcat next, anyone have any glaring problems configuring latest version (6.0.18) on Leo Client (connecting to a MySQL DB)?

Thanks!