Chapter 7: Web Server | Hacker Linux Uncovered

Overview

Although the initial purpose of the Internet was to exchange files, when the first Web browser appeared, the popularity of Web pages started growing by leap and bounds. Nowadays, it is difficult to imagine our lives without the Internet and the Internet without Web pages.

For your server machine to be able to serve Web pages, it must have a Web (HTTP) server program installed. The most widely-used Web server has long been Apache. It is difficult to estimate the share of Apache servers among the total number of Web servers, but it can be said with confidence that they comprise more than half. Even though there are other Web servers for Linux (e.g., TUX), when talking about a Web server for Linux, it is Apache that is meant .

Apache is available as freeware and is distributed under the GNU license. There is also a Windows version of Apache. The developer's official Web site address is www.apache.org . Why has this server become so popular? Is it because it is free? The free factor undoubtedly has some influence, but the decisive factor is the server's reliability. The Apache server offers a large choice of features and possesses many important qualities. It is:

Secure Many professionals consider this server the safest.
Reliable In tandem with Linux, the server can work for years without being reloaded.
Undemanding The server does not require any special resources and places a minimal load on the system.
Efficient The server rapidly responds to and handles user requests .

There are Apache-based servers that work practically without ever being turned off (available 99.9% of time). Many corporations trust this server with their important data, and I have never heard of anyone who regretted having chosen Apache for this.

The only shortcoming that users complain about is that the server is difficult to configure. This is done by editing a text file, and, because there are a huge number of configuration settings, this may be a demanding task. Also, the abundance of settings makes it easy to set some of them to the wrong values, which may negatively affect system's efficiency and/or security.

Considering the configuration of all existing Apache parameters is beyond the scope of this book; there are just too many of them. But I will consider the most important ones and explain what may affect the server's efficiency and security.