Apache HTTP Server is a widely used web server designed to deliver websites and web applications across a variety of operating environments. Its modular architecture allows administrators to enable the functionality required by individual websites without relying on a fixed set of server features.
The software supports static content delivery, dynamic applications, virtual hosting and reverse proxy configurations. It can operate as a standalone web server or form part of a larger infrastructure containing application servers, load balancers and caching systems.
Apache offers several approaches to caching, including HTTP response caches and shared object caches for internal server operations. These facilities can reduce processing overhead and improve response times, although caching is one component of a much broader web serving platform.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Virtual hosting – serves multiple websites using separate domain names and server configurations.
- Dynamic modules – extends server functionality through independently loadable modules.
- Multiple processing modules – provides event, worker and prefork request-handling models.
- HTTP response caching – uses mod_cache to store cacheable content and honour HTTP caching policies.
- Disk-based caching – stores HTTP response data through mod_cache_disk.
- Shared object caching – uses mod_cache_socache and compatible providers for cached HTTP responses.
- Specialised file caching – uses mod_file_cache to retain selected file handles or memory-mapped files.
- Cache maintenance – provides htcacheclean for controlling and maintaining disk cache storage.
- Reverse proxy – forwards requests to backend servers through mod_proxy and related modules.
- Load balancing – distributes proxied requests across multiple backend servers.
- HTTP/2 support – processes multiplexed HTTP connections through mod_http2.
- TLS encryption – supports encrypted connections through mod_ssl.
- Authentication and authorisation – controls access using authentication providers and configurable policies.
- URL rewriting – transforms request URLs and applies redirects through mod_rewrite.
- WebDAV – enables remote authoring and management of web resources.
- Content compression – supports gzip and Brotli compression through dedicated modules.
- Logging and monitoring – provides configurable access logs, error logs and runtime status information.
Website: httpd.apache.org
Support:
Developer: Apache Software Foundation
License: Apache License 2.0
Apache is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
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