LINUX TIPS AND TRICKS --- July 06, 2001

Published by ITworld.com -- changing the way you view IT
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Apache 2.0 Web Server Puts on New Threads

The latest version of the popular Apache Web server has been 
scrutinized by interested Web developers. It incorporates 
important new features to meet the intense processing 
requirements of today's busy Websites.

One particularly welcome addition to Apache 2.0, now in beta 
release, is support for threaded multiprocess modes for basic 
request handling and dispatching on the Unix platform. 
(Windows-ready versions of Apache already supported 
such threading.)

Open source Apache software is very popular among Web, or HTTP, 
servers. According to Internet consultancy Netcraft, Apache 
currently holds about 60 percent of the Web server market, 
followed by Microsoft's IIS with about 20 percent and 
Sun/Netscape/AOL's iPlanet with 6.75 percent. Created by many 
volunteers, Apache continues to support extended and basic 
modules that enhance Websites' support of complex 
software interactions.

The new Apache features -- besides Unix 
multiprocess/multithreading, the list includes support for 
platform-specific multiprocessing modules for Windows, support 
for native APIs for some non-Unix platforms, and multiprotocol 
support -- were added for scalability and maintainability, said 
Ryan Bloom, senior software engineer at Covalent Technologies 
and member of the Apache Software Foundation.

Multiprocessing modules will provide clean tuning, Bloom said. 
The new version also has a Portable Runtime, which allows 
native functions to be used on all supported platforms. 
(Besides Posix-compliant Unix systems and Windows, Apache runs 
on BeOS and OS/2.) Added filters permit modules to modify data 
from other modules, he said.

Multiprotocol support means administrators can, for example, 
configure the HTTP server to handle FTP, according to Bloom.

New additions reduce the strain of managing multiple servers 
and trying to manage the content between multiple servers," 
Bloom said.

Better management may mean more complexity, but this is not an 
overriding issue, said Bloom. "The idea [with protocol modules] 
is that Apache is a bit more than just a Web server now. While 
this does make managing Apache slightly more complex, the hope 
is that having one slightly more complex configuration is still 
easier than having multiple complex configurations," Bloom said.

Apache's new request-handling methods should mean better 
performance on Linux and a number of other systems, said Mark 
Cook, director of engineering at Red Hat and founding member of 
the Apache Software Foundation. He added that the new version's 
"out-of-the-box" ability to add SSL support will make security 
easier to support.

"Setting up a secure Web server will no longer mean applying 
patches to Apache," Cook said.

While the new release will likely be welcomed by Website 
developers and administrators who are mounting sophisticated 
offerings, the fact that the Web server is on the front line 
means few sites will move quickly to deploy alpha, or even 
beta, software. "There are parts of Apache 2.0 that are very 
new and have not had significant testing, so it will be some 
time before we see sites [that] want to switch," said Cook.

The new version seems to promise improvements to Apache 
security, but much more is left to be done.

"In the future you will be able to download Apache 2.0 and have 
SSL built right in -- but just because your server has security 
doesn't mean it's secure. We need to make sure the users 
understand what they are doing and the implications of their 
actions," Cook said.

Cook and Bloom agree that the real source of new complexity 
in Website deployment is at the application level.

"Web servers have a well defined function to perform, and 
standards they have to meet to be compliant," Cook said. The 
functions supported at the Web application level are of a 
different breed, he said.

A good example is the Apache Cocoon project, which is an entire 
publishing framework. However, Cocoon -- like the Apache Web 
server -- does try to support standards. It is based on XML and 
Java technologies that integrate into the Web server, Cook said.
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Apache 2 Information
http://www.apacheweek.com/features/ap2

The Apache Software Foundation
http://www.apache.org/
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