Running Apache on Linux

Why Apache?

If you don't currently use Apache for your corporate web site, the statistics say that you will likely do so in the future. Apache is used on about 56% of all Internet web sites currently and the numbers are climbing at a rate greater than all other web servers combined. Knowing how to deploy an Apache-based corporate web site is smart insurance for your career.

Apache benefits

There are numerous benefits to runing Apache instead of other commercial web servers.

Apache is well supported - Most support for Apache is free and available 24 hours a day via Internet mail or newsgroups.
Apache is multi-platform - Apache can run on virtually any hardware platform (from PCs to mainframes), and almost any operating system, such as Linux, Windows, NetWare, Macintosh, xBSD, etc.
Apache is secure - security holes are rare but when they exist they are discovered and fixed quickly
Apache is extensible - anyone can write modules that easily plug in to Apache. If Apache doesn't do what you want or need it to do, anyone with programming skills can write the modules you need.
Apache is database-friendly - you can interface Apache with virtually any commercial database, such as Oracle, Sybase, DB2, and Informix, as well as free databases such as MySQL and Postgres.
Apache is hardware-friendly - Apache generally consumes far fewer hardware resouces that commercial web servers.
No Microsoft Viruses - Apache is immune to the Code Red, Nimda, and other viruses that target at Microsoft Web servers.

Apache does NT, 2000, and NetWare

While most Apache web servers run on a Unix or Linux platform, Apache also runs on the Windows NT/2000 and NetWare platforms. While this course will focus on running Apache on Linux, the vast majority of what you learn will also apply to NT/2000 and NetWare.

Course contents

Introduction: Obtaining and installing Apache; Installing from a package; Installing from source code; Choosing directories; Setting file permissions
Apache Modules: The purpose; The architecture; Core modules; Examples of additional modules; Handlers
Apache Configuration: Global configuration options; DocumentRoot directive; Symbolic links; User directories; URL redirection; Spelling-related directives; much more...; OS-related issues; Server aliases
Virtual Hosting: IP-based and name-based virtual hosts; Combinations of IP and name-based servers; Virtual servers on other ports (non-80); How virtual servers handle logging; Server aliases in a virtual host; Supporting many virtual hosts with include files; Using include files and directories for improved organization
Logging: Examining log files; Log file formats; Referer logs and why they're useful; Performance impact of logging; Log rotation; Resolving IP addresses after hours
Access Control: ALLOW and DENY statements; ordering ALLOW and DENY; specifying IP, network, and host addresses; address globbing (subnets); Per directory access control using .htaccess files
Setting up CGI: Declaring the ScriptAlias; The ExecCGI directive; Environment variables; Examples of Perl CGI programs
Server Side Includes: Configuring Apache to permit SSI; Option includes; AddType and AddHandler directives; The XBitHack; Examples of SSI
Content Negotiation: Configuring Apache for foreign language web pages; Accept-Language directive; LanguagePriority directive; Specifying preferred content; Using type maps; Multiviews
Authenticating Users: Basic authentication; Creating the authentication file(s); Adding users and groups; Configuring Apache for authentication