mis-understanding php

[Andrew Zuffi <azuffi@yahoo.com>]

I have debian 'Lenny' 5.0.0

Debian Lenux and Apache are working. 

>From www.aboutdebian.com/database.htm:

"Back on the Internet Servers page we installed MySql when we installed PHP for Apache and set it up to start automatically when the system is booted"

>From www.aboutdebian.com/internet.htm Apache2 is installed.
>From www.aboutdebian.com/install5.htm page 7 the "Standard system" was selected and installed.

I do not think mysql was loaded as this option was not checked.

I wrote a simple php routine and called it index.php and it is in /var/www

The browser asks me to open or save the file instead of parsing it and showing it in the browser.

At /var/www is also index.html and test.shtml (I followed the instructions outlined on the site for the test.shtml but index.html was added as a default) So, there must be someplace where the system knows which type of files to display. About that place I do not know.

I would like have php files for some index files and .html for others in various directories. 

There was no /etc/apache2/http.conf file so I created it and added "Addtype application/x-httpd-php .php" to it.

I restarted apache2 but my change to the file did not make the .php file display.

Is php already running and where is it located? What do I need to do to make my php files display correctly and to be the index file for that directory.

Thank you,

Andrew