Building LAMP server from scratch (build a server with compiled LAMP from CentOS mini)

Hello everyone,

I would like to setup a lamp server from a minimal distro and to compile PHP, MySQL and Apache myself.

I have chosen CentOS minimal for the OS and I am trying to build the stack by hand... But well, it appears I need some help!

First: I am looking for good and recent tutorials on how to compile the latest version of PHP/MySQL5.1/Apache.
I am interested in best practices for the compilation of latest source code of these programs.
I would also like to understand all the configuration options of the LAMP in order to customize a maximum the server to the needs of the website it is going to host!

Secondly: and more practically I am stuck at adding up the Network packages necessary for a up and running server on to CentOS minimal...
So I would basically need a step by step how to build a server from CentOS minimal ?

If you are still not too scared to help a fast learning beginner, this is where I am stuck...
For the time being :
1) I install ContOS mini on a virtual machine
2) log in as root
3) dhclient eth0
4) yum install system-config-network-tui
5) yum update
I can update my system...
But now how do I configure the network so I can ping the host and get access to my local virtual network?
It seems I might need system-config-firewall-tui as well?
Should I setup a static address instead of dhcp?
Please note that my host runs Fedora 17 and I use the latest kvm and libvirt, virt-manager tools.

Many thanks for your help and keep up the good work!
Cheers,

Unless you have an extremely good reason to build things from scratch yourself, don't. Installing by hand makes it near-impossible to upgrade later. Distributions which build everything, like gentoo, still have systems to track file locations on install so they can be uninstalled and controlled properly. Manual building does not.

OK thanks for the piece of advice!
But now let's say I would like to become knowledgeable enough to become close to a MySQL builder.
Anyone with some reading recommendations on top of official website and forum?
Same ambition for Apache and PHP.
Thanks again for your help and keep up the great work!
Cheers,

IO would reccomend taking a look at the Gentoo Linux distribution and seeing how it manages builds. It usually sets a PREFIX so the makefile "installs" into /tmp/, and copies the files into the actual filesystem itself, as well as keeping a record of them.