I enjoy using the symfony Web PHP Framework for a database/web application.
To make it run on a Debian Virtual Private Server:
add to file /etc/apt/sources.list this line:
deb http://www.symfony-project.com/get debian/
Then install the required packages:
apt-get install php-pear php5-symfony php5-mysql php5-xsl
See the “My First Project”-Tutorial for initialising your project.
Symfony Project