Apache is probably the most popular web hosting software in the world. The combination of Linux and Apache is used by more of the world's web servers than any other operating system combination. A rival to the Linux/Apache web serving success is Windows running Microsoft's own Internet Information Server. However due to it's nature and background in Visual Basic, IIS is fraught with security problems. New security breaches requiring patches seem to occur with a monotonous regularity. Acquiring a dose of Nimda was the final straw for me; I have replaced IIS with Apache for Windows NTServer on my outward facing machine.

Apache can be included on Linux installation, select 'Web Hosting Server', or added later with the appropriate RPMs from the RH Linux CD. Although it runs nicely straight 'out of the box', Apache can be tailored to individual preferences by editing the main configuration files:

/etc/httpd/conf/srm.conf, access.conf and httpd.conf

Like Samba, the config files contain examples and explanations and it is unlikely that many changes would need to be made from default.

The web service is called httpd and should be restarted following any configuration changes:

service httpd restart

To make the Apache Web Hosting Service run from boot, type:

ntsysv

Scroll to the httpd entry and spacebar to put an asterisk next to it. Tab to save and exit. The Web service will now start automatically on boot.

More Information

• See Run processes at Boot for more information on using ntsysv
• See www.apache.org for more information on the Apache Project
• See Password Protect Apache for instructions on how to secure this fine WWW Server