ExpressionEngine has certain minimum requirements that can be found at http://expressionengine.com/user_guide/requirements.html. These include:
PHP version 4.3 or newer
MySQL version 4.1 or newer
10 MB of free space on your server
2 MB of free space in your database (more will be needed as your site grows)
If you have not yet purchased ExpressionEngine and are unsure as to whether your hosting provider meets the requirements, there is a Server Wizard available at the above URL that can be uploaded to a host server to make sure that ExpressionEngine will work.
Although ExpressionEngine can run on either Windows IIS or Apache, this book will assume the use of Apache. In Appendix A, you walk through how to set up a test Apache and MySQL environment with WampServer. Other test Apache and MySQL environments that ExpressionEngine will run on include XAMPP and MAMP (for Mac OS). Using a test environment, such as these, allows you to explore ExpressionEngine without having...