Apache supports various dynamic page generation technologies. Some popular

ones are Java servlets, PHP, PERL, Python. These technologies usually have an

Apache module that enables the web server to invoke server-side programs and

return results. There are also a number of application servers that support

Apache like IBM Websphere, BEA Weblogic, Netscape iPLanet etc.

Is that all?

The only limiting factor to Apache's feature set is our imagination. Due to

the modular nature of Apache, new functionality can be added to the server on

demand by plugging in the module to support the functionality. Among the

standard modules bundled with Apache include URL rewriting, access control and

authentication, setting of non standard HTTP headers, server-side includes,

CGI support, server side image map support, proxy and caching support etc.

In summary, Apache is acknowledged as the leading web server on the Internet.

Its modular architecture makes it inherently flexible to change. It enjoys

wide scale industry support and all popular web development environments work

with Apache. It comes with all the advantages of open source allowing system

administrators to highly optimize the web platform.

Quick start guide

If you are now anxious to get started with Apache, here is how you go about

compiling the Apache source code and configuring your installation.

1. Download the latest Apache source distribution from www.apache.org

2. Unpack the source distribution.

The source distribution comes as a compressed archive. Let's say that we are

installing Apache 1.3.12 (apache_1.3.12.tar.gz). Uncompress and untar the

archive with the following command:

$ tar -zxvf apache_1.3.12.tar.gz

This will create a directory named apache_1.3.12 in your current working

directory. We'll call this the Apache source directory.

3. RTFM. RTFM. RTFM. Please read the README file in the Apache source

directory.

4. Configuring your environment to compile Apache.

The source distribution comes with a script called configure, which checks

your environment for the necessary support files (like headers, shared

libraries and utility programs) that are required to successfully compile

Apache. To configure, change directory to the Apache source directory and type

$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/apache

The prefix argument indicates where we wish to install Apache. This command