This document provides an overview of the Apache web server, including: - A brief history of web servers beginning in the late 1980s and early development of Apache. - Details on installing, configuring, and using Apache for tasks like web publishing, virtual hosting, and security/performance tuning. - Examples of common Apache configurations including changing port settings and enabling basic authentication.

1. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Web Server Administration
Sukant Kole
sukant@ignou.ac.in
Advanced Centre for Informatics & Innovative Learning
Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi
September 09, 2010
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

2. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
What is a Web Server?
Definition
“...A web server is a computer program that serves content, such
as web pages, using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, over the
World Wide Web...”(Source: Wikipedia)
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

3. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Events Chronology
First Web server
A bit of history 1
1987: Larry Wall creates a programming language called
PERL widely used later for website applications
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

4. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Events Chronology
First Web server
A bit of history 1
1987: Larry Wall creates a programming language called
PERL widely used later for website applications
1989: Tim Berners Lee & Robert Calliliau proposed World
Wide Web based on ENQUIRE
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

5. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Events Chronology
First Web server
A bit of history 1
1987: Larry Wall creates a programming language called
PERL widely used later for website applications
1989: Tim Berners Lee & Robert Calliliau proposed World
Wide Web based on ENQUIRE
1991: Paul Kunz installs first web server in US at Stanford
University
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

6. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Events Chronology
First Web server
A bit of history 1
1987: Larry Wall creates a programming language called
PERL widely used later for website applications
1989: Tim Berners Lee & Robert Calliliau proposed World
Wide Web based on ENQUIRE
1991: Paul Kunz installs first web server in US at Stanford
University
1993: Marc Andressen developed Mosaic as first graphical
web browser
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

7. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Events Chronology
First Web server
A bit of history 1
1987: Larry Wall creates a programming language called
PERL widely used later for website applications
1989: Tim Berners Lee & Robert Calliliau proposed World
Wide Web based on ENQUIRE
1991: Paul Kunz installs first web server in US at Stanford
University
1993: Marc Andressen developed Mosaic as first graphical
web browser
1995: Robert McCool & Eric Bina developed NCSA HTTPd
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

8. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Events Chronology
First Web server
A bit of history 1
1987: Larry Wall creates a programming language called
PERL widely used later for website applications
1989: Tim Berners Lee & Robert Calliliau proposed World
Wide Web based on ENQUIRE
1991: Paul Kunz installs first web server in US at Stanford
University
1993: Marc Andressen developed Mosaic as first graphical
web browser
1995: Robert McCool & Eric Bina developed NCSA HTTPd
1995: Apache webserver project commenced
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

9. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Events Chronology
First Web server
Figure: First World Wide Web Server at CERN (Courtesy:Wikipedia)
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

10. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

11. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Why Study Apache
Figure: Netcraft Web Server Survey-May 2010
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

12. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
How to install Apache
In Ubuntu GNU/Linux:
sudo apt-get install apache2 [from Terminal]
OR
System-->Administration-->Synaptic Package Manager
In Windows:
Follow the steps given at the following website:
http://tinyurl.com/2rac4s
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

13. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache features
Web publishing of static and dynamic content
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

14. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache features
Web publishing of static and dynamic content
Secure web interaction
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

15. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache features
Web publishing of static and dynamic content
Secure web interaction
Virtual Hosting [More about Virtual Hosting]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

16. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache features
Web publishing of static and dynamic content
Secure web interaction
Virtual Hosting [More about Virtual Hosting]
Proxy Server [Apache:As forward proxy server]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

17. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache features
Web publishing of static and dynamic content
Secure web interaction
Virtual Hosting [More about Virtual Hosting]
Proxy Server [Apache:As forward proxy server]
Reverse Proxy Server [Apache:As reverse proxy server]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

18. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache configurations details
Global Configuration Settings
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

19. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache configurations details
Global Configuration Settings
Maximum and minimum numbers of servers to start
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

20. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache configurations details
Global Configuration Settings
Maximum and minimum numbers of servers to start
Server root directory
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

21. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache configurations details
Global Configuration Settings
Maximum and minimum numbers of servers to start
Server root directory
Port settings for server
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

22. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache configurations details
Global Configuration Settings
Maximum and minimum numbers of servers to start
Server root directory
Port settings for server
Main server configuration settings
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

23. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache configurations details
Global Configuration Settings
Maximum and minimum numbers of servers to start
Server root directory
Port settings for server
Main server configuration settings
ServerAdmin Directive
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

24. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache configurations details
Global Configuration Settings
Maximum and minimum numbers of servers to start
Server root directory
Port settings for server
Main server configuration settings
ServerAdmin Directive
DocumentRoot Directive
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

25. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache configurations details
Global Configuration Settings
Maximum and minimum numbers of servers to start
Server root directory
Port settings for server
Main server configuration settings
ServerAdmin Directive
DocumentRoot Directive
Port Configuration
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

26. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache configurations details
Global Configuration Settings
Maximum and minimum numbers of servers to start
Server root directory
Port settings for server
Main server configuration settings
ServerAdmin Directive
DocumentRoot Directive
Port Configuration
Virtual Hosts
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

27. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache configurations details
Global Configuration Settings
Maximum and minimum numbers of servers to start
Server root directory
Port settings for server
Main server configuration settings
ServerAdmin Directive
DocumentRoot Directive
Port Configuration
Virtual Hosts
IP based [Click to know more]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

28. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache configurations details
Global Configuration Settings
Maximum and minimum numbers of servers to start
Server root directory
Port settings for server
Main server configuration settings
ServerAdmin Directive
DocumentRoot Directive
Port Configuration
Virtual Hosts
IP based [Click to know more]
Name based [Click to know more]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

29. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache Security
Reference: [Apache Securing Tips]
Keep up to date
Permissions on ServerRoot directories
Server Side Includes
Protecting System Settings
Prevent Directory traversal
Continous monitoring of access & error logs
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

30. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache Performance Tuning
Reference: [Apache Performance Tuning Web resource]
Hardware and Operating System Issues [RAM, Swap space,
CPU, Stable OS version]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

31. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache Performance Tuning
Reference: [Apache Performance Tuning Web resource]
Hardware and Operating System Issues [RAM, Swap space,
CPU, Stable OS version]
Hostname lookups and DNS [Postprocessing of logs in
dedicated syslog servers]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

32. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache Performance Tuning
Reference: [Apache Performance Tuning Web resource]
Hardware and Operating System Issues [RAM, Swap space,
CPU, Stable OS version]
Hostname lookups and DNS [Postprocessing of logs in
dedicated syslog servers]
Sendfile kernel support [Static content faster with lower CPU
utilization]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

33. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Apache Performance Tuning
Reference: [Apache Performance Tuning Web resource]
Hardware and Operating System Issues [RAM, Swap space,
CPU, Stable OS version]
Hostname lookups and DNS [Postprocessing of logs in
dedicated syslog servers]
Sendfile kernel support [Static content faster with lower CPU
utilization]
Process Creation [Worker(Scalabilty), Prefork(Stability,
Compatibility)]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

34. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Statistics
Installation
Features
Configuration Details
Security
Performance Tuning
Figure: MPM-Worker module: Apache
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

35. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Sample demonstrations
1 How to publish HTML pages [Reference Web Resource: View
answer by Tipo]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

36. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Sample demonstrations
1 How to publish HTML pages [Reference Web Resource: View
answer by Tipo]
2 How to change the default port number [Reference Web
Resource]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

37. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Sample demonstrations
1 How to publish HTML pages [Reference Web Resource: View
answer by Tipo]
2 How to change the default port number [Reference Web
Resource]
3 How to allow simple user authentication [Click for Screencast]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

38. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Sample demonstrations
1 How to publish HTML pages [Reference Web Resource: View
answer by Tipo]
2 How to change the default port number [Reference Web
Resource]
3 How to allow simple user authentication [Click for Screencast]
4 How to enable virtual hosting [Click for Screencast]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

39. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Sample demonstrations
1 How to publish HTML pages [Reference Web Resource: View
answer by Tipo]
2 How to change the default port number [Reference Web
Resource]
3 How to allow simple user authentication [Click for Screencast]
4 How to enable virtual hosting [Click for Screencast]
5 How to enable SSL support encrypting web-transaction
[Reference Web resource: SSL support for Apache]
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

40. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
References
Elective Course by Hamish Whittal & Mathew West, The
Shuttleworth Foundation
Apache HTTP Server Documentation
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning

41. Introduction
History
Case Study: Apache
Demonstration
References
Open Discussion
Open Discussion
Sukant Kole sukant@ignou.ac.in PGDEL-MDEI004: Technologies for E-Learning