Webmaster in a Nutshell, Third Edition

Chapter 18. Apache Configuration

The Apache HTTP Server is the most widely used web server on the Internet. The Apache server was developed from an early version of the original NCSA server with the intent of providing further improvement while maintaining compatibility. Since then, all development efforts on the NCSA server have ceased. Apache has since earned the title of reigning king among web servers, and it isn’t hard to see why: the base distribution is fast, free, and full-featured. It runs on many different platforms and has a multitude of third-party modules available to expand its functionality.

You can pick up a copy of the Apache server and its documentation from the Apache home page: http://www.apache.org. This chapter covers Version 2.0 of the Apache server. Most of the configuration and module functionality are similar to the last major release, 1.3, which is still in wide use. Major differences between the versions will be noted.

Understanding Apache

The Apache distribution consists of the source for the core binary, httpd, the standard set of modules, and numerous additional header and configuration files. You can compile the server for your particular architecture and preferences using the config-make-make install routing common to building open source software. The latest version of gcc or another up-to-date ANSI C compiler is required to compile and build Apache.

However, you may not have to compile Apache from source. Most Linux and Mac OS X distributions have ...