Chapter 20: Setting Up a Web Server
In This Chapter
- Introducing Web servers
- Quick-starting the Apache Web server
- Configuring the Apache Web server
- Starting and stopping the server
- Monitoring server activities
Approximately 58 percent of all websites today are powered by the open-source Apache Web Server Project (compared with about 23 percent for Microsoft Web servers). In October 2010, Netcraft (www.netcraft.com) reported receiving responses from more than 232 million sites, more than 135 million of which were running Apache. As registration of Internet domain names continues to grow at an average rate of more than 6 million per month, Apache is getting the lion’s share of new websites being launched.
The Web has also been a boon to organizations seeking an inexpensive means to publish and distribute information. Using the Fedora distribution included with this book, you can launch your own website using software available from the Apache project. Combine your own domain name, Internet connection, and Fedora to create your own presence on the World Wide Web.
This chapter shows you how to install and configure the Apache Web server. Each of the server’s configuration files is described and explained in detail. You learn about various options for starting and stopping the server, as well as how to monitor the activity of a Web server. Related security concerns and practices are addressed throughout the chapter in the descriptions and examples (as well as in a special Web server ...
