I already run MAMP as a local server environment for apache and MySQL, so when I installed Mac OS X Server, which runs it’s own instance of apache, my server encountered problems with MAMP which failed to start.
After some investigation I found the OS X Server instance of Apache started with the system resulting in MAMP failing to start, with no obvious setting to disable the in-built apache services in the OS X Server app settings.
Here’s how to prevent the service starting automatically, then kill the existing service:
Step 1: Locate the following file: /Library/Server/Web/Config/Proxy/apache_serviceproxy.conf
Step 2: Comment out the listening ports in the file
Example using standard ports, change:
Listen 80
Listen 443
To:
# Listen 80
# Listen 443
This prevents apache from starting.
Step 3: Stop inbuilt apache server. Open Terminal, type: sudo killall httpd
Type the following to check http instance have stopped: ps -Al | grep httpd
Inbuilt apache service should now stop and won’t re-start.
