The minimal Ubuntu 8.0.4 package from A2 Hosting comes with Apache 2 preinstalled, but it does not come with mod_rewrite enabled (which is necessary for all applications built with the Istarel Workshop Application Framework).
With the database and web server in place, I can turn my attention to PHP 5, my tool of choice for web development. MacPorts recently made this a much cleaner process. In the past, you needed to search for ports and variants (and hope that the key variants you needed were available). Now, installation is modular. As always, update MacPorts itself before proceeding with any installation.
Next up is the web server. Apache 2 comes pre-installed on Leopard systems (Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6), but I want all my open source projects to work alongside one another.