Apache asp

Apache HTTP Server 1.3

The venerable Apache HTTP Server is an open-source success story that's still behind more than half of all Web sites, according to the latest Netcraft survey numbers. This success results partly from Apache's longtime popularity among Web-hosting companies and ISPs. Apache runs on a wide variety of platforms: It's available as a precompiled binary for Windows, Mac OS X, and many Unix flavors, as well as in source-code form, should you wish to compile it yourself or adapt it for use on other platforms. Apache's modular design means you can snap new features in easily, without major changes to the core.

You can download the basic Apache server free from www.apache.org, but its feature set is limited. If you want capabilities like SSL, you'll need to hunt down add-on modules, which vary in sophistication and maturity, or purchase a commercial Apache version such as Red Hat's Stronghold Secure Web Server 3 ($995, www.redhat.com). One advantage of this modular design is that you plug in only the components you need, making the server less complex and arguably more reliable, secure, and manageable. Another advantage is that you can choose from a wide variety of modules produced both by the open-source community and by commercial vendors: Modules are available for everything from enabling FrontPage Extensions to performing sophisticated rules-based redirection. You can even extend the server with your own custom-written modules.

Web servers are almost always extensible via third-party components, so we looked solely at the basic HTTP server from Apache Software Foundation for this review. Despite its heritage and the flourishing growth in plug-in modules, Apache is beginning to show its age. The server has largely remained static, while competing products have gained more features and better performance.

Configuring Apache requires editing directives in text files. This approach is convenient for administrators who want to configure programmatically, but less so for those who prefer a GUI or browser-based interface. Still, we found the settings to be well documented, and tasks like setting up a new virtual server, changing IP-address access restrictions, and adding MIME types were straightforward. (Plug-in GUIs, such as Comanche, are available for Apache configuration.) Apache doesn't support dynamic reconfiguration, however, so changing its settings requires manually restarting the server.

Authentication and security options in the basic Apache server are limited. User authentication and access control are managed primarily via .htaccess files; support for LDAP is available only through an add-on module, and secure transaction capability is not provided.

The basic Apache program also lacks bandwidth throttling, dynamic log rotation, and support for virtual server classes and clusteringdesiderata for large enterprise and hosting sites.

As a platform for development, Apache directly supports CGI scripts and server-side includes, and its wide variety of modules provide plug-in support for Perl, PHP, emulated ASP, and other page-generation and Web-scripting languages. NSAPI and Java servlet support also require add-on modules.

Apache's performance on our benchmark tests was in the middle of the pack. It did moderately better running on Linux than on Windows on our Static Page Serving test.

Apache 2.0, currently in testing with no release date set (and previewed in our issue of July 1, 2001), will be built atop a new portable runtime layer that its developers claim will, among other things, improve performance and stability on Windows. In the meantime, Apache 1.3 remains a solid choice as a free Web server on Unix, especially for site builders who want to take advantage of its modular extendability.