The History of Apache Server Project

The Apache project began in 1995 when a group of eight volunteers, seeing that web software was becoming increasingly commercialized, got together to create a supported open source web server. Apache began as an enhanced version of the public-domain NCSA server but steadily diverged from the original. Many new features have been added to Apache over the years: significant features include the ability for a single server to host multiple virtual web sites, a smorgasbord of authentication schemes, and the ability for the server to act as a caching proxy. In some cases, Apache is way ahead of the commercial vendors in the features wars. For example, at the time this book was written only the Apache web server had implemented the HTTP/1.1 Digest Authentication scheme.

Internally the server has been completely redesigned to use a modular and extensible architecture, turning it into what the authors describe as a “web server toolkit.” In fact, there’s very little of the original NCSA httpd source code left within Apache. The main NCSA legacy is the configuration files, which remain backward-compatible with NCSA httpd.

Apache’s success has been phenomenal. In less than three years, Apache has risen from relative obscurity to the position of market leader. Netcraft, a British market research company that monitors the growth and usage of the web, estimates that Apache servers now run on over 50 percent of the Internet web sites, making it by far the most popular web server in the world. Microsoft, its nearest rival, holds a mere 22 percent of the market.[3] This is despite the fact that Apache has lacked some of the conveniences that common wisdom holds to be essential, such as a graphical user interface for configuration and administration.

Apache has been used as the code base for several commercial server products. The most successful of these, C2Net’s Stronghold, adds support for secure communications with Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and a form-based configuration manager. There is also WebTen by Tenon Intersystems, a Macintosh PowerPC port, and the Red Hat Secure Server, an inexpensive SSL-supporting server from the makers of Red Hat Linux.

Another milestone was reached in November of 1997 when the Apache Group announced its port of Apache to the Windows NT and 95 operating systems (Win32). A fully multithreaded implementation, the Win32 port supports all the features of the Unix version and is designed with the same modular architecture as its brother. Freeware ports to OS/2 and the AmigaOS are also available.

In the summer of 1998, IBM announced its plans to join with the Apache volunteers to develop a version of Apache to use as the basis of its secure Internet commerce server system, supplanting the servers that it and Lotus Corporation had previously developed.

Why use Apache? Many web sites run Apache by accident. The server software is small, free, and well documented and can be downloaded without filling out pages of licensing agreements. The person responsible for getting his organization’s web site up and running downloads and installs Apache just to get his feet wet, intending to replace Apache with a “real” server at a later date. But that date never comes. Apache does the job and does it well.

However, there are better reasons for using Apache. Like other successful open source products such as Perl, the GNU tools, and the Linux operating system, Apache has some big advantages over its commercial rivals.