Tag Archives: Apache

Why Apache is Your Web Server of Choice?

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When deciding to put a web server online there are a number of software packages available from which to choose. Some operating systems such as Windows even come with their own web server built in. I strongly believe that the best choice for a web server is the Apache web server.

As an open source project Apache is free software. Obviously, cost is often a factor in deciding on a product to use. However, many Windows fans will point out that the Internet Information Server (IIS) is free (if you have already purchased Windows that is). You have to consider the total cost of ownership, however. IIS is certainly not free if you consider the need to own Windows in order to run it. Add to that the additional hardware specs required to run Windows and IIS and the additional skills required to administer IIS on Windows and you can see that IIS is hardly free. In this sense, neither is Apache. However, Apache will function admirably on lesser hardware, can run on free operating systems like Linux or Free BSD and has a standard and straightforward configuration. This adds up, in my opinion, to a lower cost of running Apache.

Apache also wins on features. The Apache server logs are quite comprehensive and can be easily configured to log IP addresses, referrers, and other data that are important to Internet marketers. Apache supports loadable modules, which makes it capable of running nearly any dynamic scripting language available including Perl, Python, PHP and more.

Apache is also extremely stable. According to the Netcraft survey, Apache serves over 54% of all web sites on the Internet today. In 2005, Apache enjoyed a 71% share of web servers. Apache has a long history and its wide deployment has resulted in software that has truly been put through its paces. As a result, Apache is quite stable and powerful. The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), which manages the open source development of the Apache web server, has created structured procedures and techniques for groups of open source developers to collaborate. This consistent process adds to Apache’s stability.

Flexibility also makes Apache a winner. As mentioned earlier, Apache’s loadable module support makes it possible to configure Apache in a variety of ways. Apache can be fine-tuned to serve static content or to serve as the front end for an application server. It also has the ability to serve as a proxy server. The rewrite module allows you to manipulate the URL space with proxying, forwarding and redirection. Apache can even be reasonably tuned to serve both dynamic and static content. This is one of the many reasons that it is the web server of choice for large web hosting companies.

Apache is also extremely portable. Currently the Apache web server runs on a wide array of platforms including Mac, Windows, Solaris, Linux, Aix, and many more. The Apache web server has been ported to almost every hardware and software platform available. You will never find yourself locked into an operating system because you need to run Apache.

Finally, Apache has some of the best support available. Its wide usage has resulted in a variety of support options. You can purchase paid support plans from service organizations or you can easily find free community based support online. I have never failed to find the answer to an Apache question online.

There are a number of reasons why Apache is the leading web server on the market. These are all strong reasons why you should chose Apache as your web server. I guess the real question is “why would you choose anything other than Apache”?

Michael Dorf is a professional software architect and instructor with M.S. in Software Engineering and 12 years of industry experience. He teaches for LearnComputer! (learncomputer.com), which offers instructor-led Apache training and Tomcat training courses for companies and individuals. Whether you decide sign up for an Apache course or read an article on securing Apache web server, you will find a wealth of resources on our website!


Article from articlesbase.com

Compile apache and php with suhosin security patch

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Article by Geo A.

For many reasons many people want to compile their own source code to build apache and php / mod_perl these days. We will discuss the steps required in doing just that. But unlike most others we will throw in some bonuses, like installed mod_perl and the hardened php project’s suhosin patch to php, to help make the internet a more secure place to live.

Lets get to business: We will start with Apache. If you do not know what apache is well, the Apache HTTP Server; to put it simply Apache is the most popular web server on the internet and it has helped make the growth of the internet what it is today. Stating that we will be using Apache 1.3.x at the time of writing this article the current apache version is 1.3.3.7. You can download the source code at

http://httpd.apache.org/

Copy and paste code!

cd /usr/local/srcwget http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/mirrors/apache/httpd/apache_1.3.37.tar.gz

tar xzvf apache_1.3.37.tar.gz

cd apache_1.3.37

./configure –prefix=/usr/local/apache–enable-module=most –enable-shared=max

make && make install

That should have Apache built from source, compiled and installed in /usr/local/apacheand the configuration is in /usr/local/apache/conf the default document root is in /usr/local/apache/htdocs. To start and stop apache issue

/usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl stop

/usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl start

Try it by going to http://www.yoursite.com or http://1.2.3.4

Mod_perl: Mod perl is optional but if you wanted to use it, it requires just a few lines to install and modify. At the time of writing this article mod perl is at version 1.30. You can obtain the latest source at

http://perl.apache.org/

wget http://perl.apache.org/dist/mod_perl-1.0-current.tar.gz

perl Makefile.PL USE_APXS=1 WITH_APXS=/usr/local/apache/bin/apxs EVERYTHING=1

make && make install

Thanks to USE_APXS=1 and WITH_APXS=/usr/local/apache/bin/apxs, mod_perl compilation is done correctly, and will be compiled as a DSO (Dynamic Shared Object).

To make your perl files script.pl work in apache you need to modify /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf to include:

AddHandler cgi-script.pl

After this mod_perl will be ready to use.

PHP: PHP’s growth alone is because of it’s ease of use and ability to let beginner programmers create dynamic scripts and websites. However PHP has many security concerns and because of that in this guide we will be compiling php with the hardenred php project’s Suhosin security patch.

Suhosin available at:

http://www.hardened-php.net/suhosin/index.html

PHP source available at:

http://www.php.net/

At the time of writing this article PHP version is 4.4.6 and 5.2.1. We will be using PHP 5 for our example. We will be using the suhosin patch that goes with the version of PHP 5.2.1 available at http://www.hardened-php.net/suhosin/download.html

You must get the patch directly from the hardened-php project download page listed above. Afterwards place the extracted file in /usr/local/src/ for it is the directory all our examples are using to compile from.

Use the commands below to extract the suhosin patch as well for it is in a bz2 format.

Copy and paste:

tar -xfj php-5.1.4.tar.bz2

wget http://us2.php.net/get/php-5.2.1.tar.gz/from/this/mirror

tar xzvf php-5.2.1.tar.gz

cd php-5.2.1

patch -p 1 -i../suhosin-patch-5.2.1-0.9.6.2

./configure –with-mysql –with-gd –enable-suhosin –with-xml –with-gettext –enable-mbstring –with-curl –with-xmlrpc –with-zlib –enable-mbregex –enable-sockets –with-iconv –enable-bcmath –with-apxs=/usr/local/apache/bin/apxs

make && make install

In the configure line you can remove or add more modules as you wish, this is just a sample of what we would normally use on a production type system for certain tasks.

You will need to tell apache that you want php files to be read as php and not text! This is very important! Because if you do not, you may expose your PHP code and sensitive code as clear text, you do not want this.

Open /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf

Copy and paste:

AddType application/x-httpd-php.phpAddType application/x-httpd-php-source.phps

Search for DirectoryIndex and make the line as below

index.html index.htm index.php index.pl

You can specify the order in which you want documents to display as default by arranging the index.html index.php fields from left to right.

Restart Apache

/usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl restart

You should be set now!You can test that everything is working in php by making a file called test.php in /usr/local/apache/htdocs insert the following:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Thats it! Try it out, let me know what you think!Good luck and happy serving :)

Original article at:http://techblog.bluechiphosting.com/linux-tips-tricks/compile-apache-php-with-suhosin-patch-mod_perl

About the Author

Geo A. Is a UNIX system administrator for bluechiphosting.com a web hosting company. They specialize in low cost options with high quality services. Many of their services are free. They are unique in offering CPanel and many service side scripting tools free.

What is Apache? How it Affects Your Websites

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Article by Jeremy Gislason

Apache Defined – What It Is, What It Does, And How It Affects Your Business…

What is Apache?

Apache, is an HTTP web server that is developed and maintained by an open community of developers under the Apache Software Foundation. “The Apache HTTP Server Project is an effort to develop and maintain an open-source HTTP server for modern operating systems including UNIX and Windows NT. The goal of this project is to provide a secure, efficient and extensible server that provides HTTP services in sync with the current HTTP standards.”

Apache is noted for having had an integral role in the initial growth and development of the World Wide Web and was the first practical alternative to the Netscape Communications Corporation web server. Today, Apache rivals the biggest Unix based servers in functionality and performance.

Uses

Apache used to serve both static content and dynamic Web pages on the World Wide Web. The quick and dirty definition of a server is a Software that sends web site pages back to browsers. The benefit of Apache is that it is

Apache is used for many other tasks where content needs to be made available in a secure and reliable way. One example is sharing files from a personal computer over the Internet. A user who has Apache installed on their desktop can put arbitrary files in the Apache’s document root which can then be shared.

Additionally, some programmers test their web application code on a local server, installed with Apache. Programmers developing web applications often use a locally installed version of Apache in order to preview and test code as it is being developed.

What does it mean to you?

If you host your own website, or plan to, then you will need a server. Apache has many benefits that are discussed in the next section. Among them is the fact that it is free and it is extremely stable and widely acceptable. But what if you don’t host your own website? Why should you care about Apache? Maybe you won’t, however if you’re doing any kind of programming, say you’re going to add some scripts or applications to your website, you will want to make sure the language you use is compatible with Apache.

BenefitsQuite simply, Apache is free.

It is available for a wide variety of operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Novell NetWare, Linux and Mac OS X.

Apache supports a variety of common language interfaces including mod_perl, mod_python, Tcl, and PHP.

Virtual hosting allows one Apache installation to serve many different websites.

Apache features configurable error messages, which will help guide your visitors to the right area of your website rather than lose them all together.

Apache can run on virtually any hardware platform, which means you don’t have to go out and buy new hardware.

Apache is extremely secure, partially because it has such a long history and is so widely used. The open source nature of it also means that there are a committed group of people working on making Apache the best server software available.

Apache interfaces with just about any database including commercial products like Oracle, Sybase, DB2, and Informix and open source databases like MySQL. This is important if you want to access statistics about your website traffic and usage, if you want to track customer information, orders, accounting numbers and reports, create forms, forums, and other various database uses.

Apache is generally safe from the variety of viruses that commonly attach Microsoft Web servers.

Because of its size and success, Apache has attracted numerous developers from around the world. These wonderful developers have created modules, or blocks of code designed to do things like letting you run CGI scripts whenever a file of a certain type is requested. Many of these modules can be found at http://modules.apache.org/. And Apache is intuitive enough that it is easy to create a module if you can’t find what you need and there are many books written on the subject.

While tech support is not what you might get from a commercial software product, a product you’ve paid tons of money for, Apache does offer bug reporting services, forums to discuss how to solve problems and they are quick to find solutions to bugs and security issues. Additionally, any security issues or bugs reported are posted on the organization’s website along with updates to resolve them and users can subscribe to a mailing list to receive bug reports and updates in your email box.

Drawbacks

Apache has of late, since 2006, lost some of its market share. Most of this share has been lost to Microsoft Internet Information Services and the.NET platform.

No real technical support. Here is the quote you will find on the Apache website, “With millions of users and fewer than sixty volunteer developers, we cannot provide personal support for Apache. For free support, we suggest participating in a user forum.” That being said, there are numerous commercial support companies available.

Bottom Line

Even if you never decide to host your own website, plan to set up a web server, or even want to test code before you integrate it into your website, it is helpful, and beneficial to educate yourself about the uses and benefits of Apache simply because it affects your business. As your company grows you will likely want your website to be more than a static page. Apache, and all of its flexibility, enables your business website to not only become more interactive but to provide you a number of resources to research and connect with your customers. Apache is sponsored by Google, Yahoo, and HP just to name a few which means it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Plus…it’s free!

About the Author

Jeremy Gislason is a leading expert on membership sites, marketing and online business. Check out the world’s leading client and content management system to skyrocket your sales at http://www.memberspeed.com

Virtuas Open Source Solutions and Partners Honor the Apache Geronimo Project

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Virtuas Open Source Solutions and Partners Honor the Apache Geronimo Project










Portland, OR (PRWEB) July 27, 2006

Virtuas Open Source Solutions, a leading provider of enterprise-level support and enablement services for widely adopted open source software, along with IBM, Novell, OpenLogic, SourceBeat, and others are hosting a special “Geronimo Live!” celebration on Thursday, July 27th, from 7:00pm-11:00pm in the Windows Skyroom in the Red Lion Convention Center Hotel, in Portland, Oregon.

The event will honor the 1.1 release of Apache Geronimo and its increased momentum as a viable solution for enterprise application server needs. A number of Fortune 1000 companies have embraced Geronimo and enjoy the flexible features of the product. The event will prove to be an excellent opportunity for industry education, networking and Apache Geronimo community development.

Committers and contributors to the Apache Geronimo project will be present during the event to answer questions and provide information on the current release of Apache Geronimo, as well as the product roadmap.

Virtuas is also exhibiting at the OSCon 2006 conference in Portland, OR on July 26th and July 27th in the Oregon Convention Center, booth (#719).

About Virtuas Open Source Solutions, LLC

Virtuas Open Source Solutions is the premier provider of enterprise-level support services for widely adopted open source software such as Apache Geronimo, Apache Tomcat, Spring and Hibernate. Since 1999, Virtuas has provided the Global 2000 with world-class enterprise software solutions. For more information about Virtuas, please visit http://www.virtuas.com    

Contact:

Kristin Lukos

Virtuas Open Source Solutions, LLC

1200 17th St., Suite 640

Denver, CO 80202

(303) 260-7300

http://www.virtuas.com

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