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Unit 12: Server Role: Linux as Web Server

HTML documents, plain text, images, sounds, video, and other forms of data. These objects may notes
not necessarily exist in static form, but instead are generated on-the-fly by programs run by the
server; CGI scripts are the most common of these programs.
Web servers and browsers communicate using HTTP, Hypertext transfer Protocol, a simple but
efficient language for requesting and transmitting data over a network. Thus, you\’ll sometimes
hear web servers referred to as HTTP servers. Web servers come in various shapes and sizes.
They run under a variety of operating systems, have varying levels of power and complexity,
and range in price from rather expensive to free.

apache:

Apache is
1. Powerful: Apache\’s performance and reliability is well-known.
2. Features-Rich: The Apache server sports a host of features, as well as: XML support, server-
side includes, powerful URL-rewriting, and virtual hosting, to name but a few. We\’ll be
talking about some of these features in future articles.

3. Modular: Looking for a characteristic not implemented in the core Apache server? Chances
are you will find a module that can add the functionality you need.Objects that web servers
can serve include HTML documents, plain text, images, sounds, video, and other forms of
data.
4. Extensible: Can\’t find a module that suits your intention? Well, as Apache is open source,
you can write one yourself. In fact, you can even make changes to the inner workings
of Apache. All the information you need is right there in the source code and numerous
online resources. Share your patches or modules with the community by making them
open source as well!
5. Popular: At the time of this writing, Apache holds a smidge under 60 percent of the web
server marketplace. And, yes, popularity does count; help abounds and is only a mailing
list or newsgroup posting away.

Did u know? What is Apache?

12.2 apache web server

The Apache Web server, for those of you who haven’t heard of it, is debatably the most popular
Web server in use on the Internet today. While Microsoft contends that its Internet Information
Server (IIS) is making huge gains, it’s still struggling in many ways against Apache. Why?
For beginners, you don’t have to be running Windows to run Apache. It was first developed on
the various Unix/Linux/BSD platforms, and then recently ported to Win32. Internet Information
Server, while a very good Web server on the NT platform, is trapped in the “Windows-only”
world. While IIS has many handy features, not everyone wants to run NT for their Web server’s
OS.
One more reason for Apache’s widespread acceptance is its overall stability. While you can slow
down an Apache Web server (especially if you run tons of PERL/CGI scripts on it), you can
rarely, if ever, kill one. The Apache Web server service is near bombproof.
Finally, it’s relatively fast. I say “relatively” as it’s relative to what you’re doing with it. If you’re
hosting a Web site with mostly static content, Apache is a fireball. If of desktop-centric Linux
such as Caldera, it’s rare that you won’t have the Apache server installed. During your Linux
installation, if you see an option for “Web services” makes sure to select it so that Apache will

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