APACHE: The Definitive Guide
Book Review by Diana F. ArsenaultApache is by far the dominant web server on the internet. It has more than twice the market share of its nearest competitor, Microsoft. Microsoft’s web server, which is the core of Windows NT, can’t hold a candle to Apache in comparison.
Apache is FREEWARE and anyone can download the source code from the internet and use it on a Unix server or a Windows32 server. In addition to being Freeware it’s also OPEN SOURCE. Which means the source code can be viewed and changed by anyone to suit their particular needs. The source code can be downloaded at http://www.apache.org.The fact that Apache is freeware and open source code contributes greatly to the fact that it is the number one web server. With each release of the code there are thousands of top programmers testing the code to find any errors, security holes, etc. Due to the constant examination by outsiders, it is remarkably more stable than any commercial web server software could ever hope to be. No commercial web server software company could ever afford to have as many top programmers examining their code and constantly working to improve it. This is particularly crucial in the area of security where even a tiny mistake can have horrible consequences.
Apache gets its name from the fact that it consists of some existing code plus some patches. The code is written by an invited team of volunteer programmers who don’t get paid for their work. Why do they sit up nights to work on Apache for our benefit for FREE? I think they do it for the challenge of improving tomorrow’s technology and to satisfy the altruism deep within their soul. I would love to meet any of them and I would bow gracefully.
So what does web server software actually do? When you start your internet browser and try to view a web page, you’re sending a request message across the internet to the machine where the web page is physically located. If that machine is up and running, its internet connection is up and running, and its web server software is ready to receive and act on your request. Then it sends the web page back to your browser. Of course, the web server software does many other things but this is the part that you as an end user actually see.
This book walks you through the process of acquiring, compiling, installing, configuring and modifying the Apache source code. Apache is controlled through roughly 150 directives. Simply thinking about completing the whole process could scare most novice programmers away, but in reality it takes less than a half hour to do and its well worth the effort.The hardest part of learning to use Apache is at the very beginning when a webmaster often has to get Apache, a scripting language and a database manager to shake hands and work together as a team. This book can enable you to successfully make this happen.
A set of example web sites has been constructed to assist with the aspects of Apache covered in the book. These web sites can actually be downloaded and installed on your own system. This is a very interesting and exciting feature of this book.
An entire chapter is devoted to the many aspects of protecting an Apache server and its content from uninvited guests and intruders. Another chapter explains how to install and configure PHP along with an example for connecting it to MySQL.
The book ends with a hard fold-out six page Apache Quick Reference Guide. This would be invaluable to anyone working with Apache. This concise yet thorough Quick Reference alone is worth the price of the book.
Webmasters who want to use Apache need a good understanding of TCP/IP and more advanced skills if they need to integrate with other network infrastructure like firewalls and proxy servers.
This book doesn’t cover every Apache command or pretend to be an Apache manual. The following is a link to one of many lists of available online documentation on different aspects of the Apache Web Server: <http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/>. This book is like a tourist guide that without ever trying shows you why there are over 22 million web servers running Apache. The Apache Web Server in February 2003 is running on 62.23% of all web servers worldwide. In comparison Microsoft Web Server is running only 27.49% worldwide.
Apache: The Definitive Guide
by Ben Laurie & Peter Laurie
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
1005 Gravenstein Highway North
Sebastopol, CA 95472
(800) 998-9938
www.oreilly.com
Price: $ 39.95 US