I've always worked with Apache, MySQL, and PHP. I'd like to eventually branch out to Python/Django or Ruby/Ruby on Rails, but that's another discussion. Two great things about Apache, MySQL, and PHP are all three are ubiquitous and it's very easy to launch a website. Just set up an Apache virtual host, import the database into MySQL, and copy the PHP files onto the server. That's it. This is all I've ever done and all I've ever known. Please keep this in mind.
These days, it's becoming increasingly important for websites to be able to deliver data in real-time to the users. Users expect this too due to the live nature of Facebook and Gmail. This effect can be faked with Ajax polling, but that has a lot of overhead, as explained here. I'd like to use WebSockets. Now remember that I've always been a LAMP guy. I've only ever launched websites using the method I described earlier. So if I have, say, a CakePHP site, how can I "add on" the feature of WebSockets? Do I need to install some other server or something or can I get it to work smoothly with Apache? Will it require Apache 2.4? Please explain the process to me keeping in mind that I only know about LAMP. Thanks!