Installing the Web server

After you set up the computer, you need to decide which Web server to install.
The answer is almost always Apache. Apache offers the following advantages:

• It’s free. What else do I need to say?
• It runs on a variety of operating systems. Apache runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, FreeBSD, and most varieties of Unix.
• It’s popular. Approximately 60 percent of Web sites on the Internet use Apache, according to surveys at news.netcraft.com/archives/web_ server_survey.html and www.securityspace.com/s_survey/ data/. This wouldn’t be true if it didn’t work well. Also, this means that a large group of users can provide help.
• It’s reliable. After Apache is up and running, it should run as long as your computer runs. Emergency problems with Apache are rare.
• It’s customizable. The open source license allows programmers to modify the Apache software, adding or modifying modules as needed to fit their own environment.
• It’s secure. Free software is available that runs with Apache to make it into an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) server. Security is an essential issue if you’re using the site for e-commerce.

Apache is automatically installed when you install most Linux distributions. All recent Macs come with Apache installed. For most other Unix flavors, you have to download the Apache source code and compile it yourself, although some binaries (programs that are already compiled for specific operating systems) are available. For Windows, Apache provides an installer that asks you questions and installs and configures Apache for you. For a public Web site, you should run Windows NT/2000/XP, although Apache also runs on Windows 95/98/Me.

(The Apache Web site (httpd.apache.org) provides information, software downloads, extensive documentation that is improving all the time, and installation instructions for various operating systems. Other Web servers are available. Microsoft offers IIS (Internet Information Server), which is the second most popular Web server on the Internet with approximately 27 percent of Web sites. Sun offers a Web server, which serves less than 3 percent of the Internet. Other Web servers are available, but they have even smaller user bases.