Drupalcon, the conference dedicated to Drupal users and engineers, concludes Saturday and not without one big feature to announce to its extendable Content Management Software (CMS) platform. Drupal announced easy installation tools, named Acquia Stack Installer, that bypass much of the command-line steps a Drupal installation traditionally required.
Drupal requires LAMP; Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. Like Drupal, these software platforms are both free through various open-source licenses, and installations require some knowledge of the Linux, Mac or Windows operating system command line. The process can be burdensome in configuration, particularly to those new to the software.
Third party pre-configured downloads, like WAMP for Windows, XAMPP for Linux or MAMP for Mac OS X were available to provide streamlined installations. Drupal's version, also known as DAMP, has included its CMS in its own pre-bundled installation, making it much easier for those unfamiliar with the complicated systems to set up their own Drupal website. The installation is available for Mac and Windows operating systems.
Drupal's primary backer Acquia, also took the opportunity to announce it is adding support services to its enterprise offerings.
Acquia, the biggest backer of Drupal and co-founded by the creator of Drupal Dries Buyhardt, also announced an expansion of its support service into search and site hosting.
Apache solar search delivered from the Acquia cloud to any Drupal site. You can offload your search to Acquia. Acquia search starts as an extended beta next week through a module. The beta is free to everyone who has a network account, which start at $99/year. They also have free trials for non-network customers. The extended beta will run through the summer, and perhaps longer, according to an Acquia representative.
Acquia is also now offering the ability to build Drupal sites for enterprise customers on top of Amazon's EC3 "cloud" service, making it a one-stop shop for starting large-scale Drupal sites.
The Acquia Stack Installer, or DAMP, is available for download from the Drupal.org site. You can find more information on Acquia's services at its own site.
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