Web servers don`t compete in the same sense as most other software offerings do. For one thing, the most widely used server, Apache, is open source and essentially free. It has no advertising budget or any other promotion aside than downloads, user experience, and word of mouth. Even the second most widely used server, Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) doesn`t compete in the open market as it`s typically picked up in conjunction with a Windows operating system (i.e., it`s bundled).
There is nothing worse when setting up a website than having to build some complicated method of viewing and updating the information on the site. There are lots of solutions -- using a local copy, using a combination of HTTP and FTP tools to download the original and upload the changes and of course the full-blown dynamic/content managed system that provides that nice cuddly front end for you to enter the information into.
In order to simplify the way you update websites, WebDAV was invented. Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) uses extensions to the existing HTTP protocol to enable multiple users to manage and modify the files in a remote system. Using suitably enabled clients you can view, open, edit and save files directly into the filesystem of the Web site as it were of a remote website.
n the interim between Apache 2.0.43 and Apache 2.0.44, some very substantial changes went into the authentication/authorization/access control (collectively referred to as AAA) code in Apache. This caused some panic in people that were paying attention. In particular, there was some consternation in the documentation team, as this meant that in a minor point-release of Apache, there were changes that would require that Apache administrators change the way that they configured AAA on their servers.
Looking to add Java functionality to your Apache Web server? The tool of choice from the Apache Foundation is the Tomcat Java server. Martin C. Brown details how to install and configure Tomcat to work with your Apache server.
Once you`ve set up your server and users are accessing your Web site, the last thing you want to hear about are performance problems with the site. You can test the system manually, but there are limitations to manual-based testing.
One major downside of manual testing (aside from the time investment) is that it doesn`t reveal where the real problem with the site lies. Is it a configuration problem with the server, a problem with some dynamic elements, or a more fundamental network performance issue?
HTTPD-Test is a collection of tools that provide ways of testing HTTP servers in general. The previously covered Flood (see Staying Out of Deep Water: Performance Testing Using HTTPD-Test`s Flood), is one such tool. As the name implies, Flood enables administrators to test the performance of a Web server by flooding it with requests.
The Perl Framework, which is part of the same suite, concentrates on testing the configuration and components of Apache (the core binary and its associated support modules) on your platform to ensure the configuration works and the modules have compiled and installed properly.
By now you`re probably thinking this sounds pretty useless -- once you`ve installed Apache, especially from a pre-built binary installer, why would you want (or need) to test it?
IIS has been an optional component of the Windows Server operating systems since Windows NT 4.0. Back then, this was a basic Web server in the form of IIS 3.0. An Option Pack, released shortly after Windows NT 4.0 was released, included IIS 4.0 and was the first `real` version of IIS to be used heavily as a Web server platform.
Proxy servers do a number of different things, but the basic term proxy means to do something for somebody else, usually in an authorized capacity. There are in fact two types of proxy servers, a forward proxy and a reverse proxy. A forward proxy is used to support Internet access for a number of clients through a single server for security, caching, or filtering. A reverse proxy is used to redirect requests for a Web site to a number of servers for a client.
The previous Apache-focused tutorial published on ServerWatch discussed the benefits of a proxy server for the network, and how it can speed up access, reduce bandwidth requirements, and perform basic information filtering tasks. This type of proxy is a forward proxy -- it forwards requests from a network to the Internet.
However, if the proxy model is flipped on its head, a different type of proxy server is created -- a reverse proxy. In this instance, instead of requests from a client being forwarded (and optionally cached) through the proxy to the Internet, requests are forwarded (and cached) to one or more Web servers, as illustrated in Figure 1.
You`ve downloaded and configured your Apache server and are ready to move on to the next project. Can it really be left to fend for itself in a darkened room?
Yes. To some degree, anyway. With the exception of configuration testing, once Apache is up, you likely need never think about how the Web server is running.
On the other hand, completely ignoring your Apache installation would be foolhardy.
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