Apache Week issue 293

                                APACHE WEEK
                                      
The essential weekly guide for users of the world's most popular Web server.
                          Issue 293: 3rd May 2002
                                      
                                 In this issue
                                       
     * Under development
     * In the news
     * ApacheCon 2002
     * Featured articles
       
                               Under development
                                       
     A new release of Apache 2.0, version 2.0.36, is currently in
     testing and may be released publicly soon after the weekend. The
     changes in 2.0.36 include (along with those [1]covered previously):
     * the AcceptPathInfo directive has been fixed ([2]BZ#8234)
     * a fix for mod_ssl when using virtual host with long hostnames
       ([3]BZ#8572)
     * many fixes and improvements to the worker MPM
     * fix for subrequest handling which resulted in invalid
       Content-Length headers being returned when using certain
       combinations of modules ([4]BZ#7966)
     * fixes for Windows ([5]BZ#8014, [6]BZ#8009)
       
     An additional change included in 2.0.36 makes the ApacheBench (ab)
     utility use non-blocking connect() calls: previously, the whole
     program would be blocked whenever a new connection was established
     to the server being benchmarked. The tool can now exercise the
     target server more thoroughly than previous versions; resulting in
     a higher reported performance. This brought up the interesting
     point that when comparing the performance of different versions of
     Apache, a single version of ab must be use to produce comparable
     results.
     
     Along with the new 2.0 release, there are calls for a new 1.3
     release to be made soon (which would be 1.3.25), particularly to
     get fixes for the [7]problems with mod_proxy, which were found in
     1.3.24, made widely available.
     
                                  In the news
                                       
     The April 2002 server surveys are out from [8]E-Soft and
     [9]Netcraft. Apache is still holding on to its majority market
     share, with 52% (Netcraft survey), 66% (E-Soft survey), or 57%
     (E-Soft SSL survey).
     
     ZDNet analyse the results and ask [10]"How does IIS keep its market
     share?".
     
     Some of the big moves are because Microsoft has been able to
     identify people who control very large numbers of sites, are not
     bound tightly to a particular technology, and persuade them to
     switch to Microsoft servers. 
     
     The E-Soft [11]server version report shows little evidence of
     Apache 2.0 being deployed, although Netcraft find that some big
     sites such as News.com have already deployed it.
     
                                ApacheCon 2002
                                       
     This week the ApacheCon organisers announced a change to the
     proposed 2002 conference. The conference will now be held in Las
     Vegas on 18-21 November 2002, to co-incide with COMDEX. Other
     changes include adding a full day of tutorials, separately
     chargeable, and the provision of a conference [12]discussion list.
     The last ApacheCon was held in Santa Clara in April 2001, [13]read
     our review.
     
                               Featured articles
                                       
     In this section we highlight some of the articles on the web that
     are of interest to Apache users.
     
     [14]"Five tips for configuring Apache" is a no-nonsense, straight
     to the point article about fine-tuning the performance of an Apache
     1.3 or Apache 2.0 web server. It gives a brief overview on five
     methods used: configuring the AcceptMutex directive, using
     threading (for Apache 2.0 only), implementing a session cache (if
     mod_ssl is used), adjusting the value of the KeepAliveTimeout
     directive (if KeepAlive is set to on), and monitoring the web
     server's load by using mod_status. Readers are then referred to
     related URLs for further information.
     
     Kevin Hemenway is back again with [15]"Apache Web-Serving with Mac
     OS X, Part 6" which explores the modules that are included in the
     default Apache web server on Mac OS X version 10.1.4. He starts by
     going through the LoadModule and AddModule directives, and points
     out the location of the module object files before revisiting the
     previous articles in this series and describing how to configure
     each module. The modules covered are: mod_cgi, mod_include,
     mod_php, mod_alias, mod_dir, mod_autoindex, mod_access, and
     mod_auth.
     
     Windows 2000 users may be interested to learn [16]how to install
     and configure Apache 1.3.24, mod_ssl, PHP, MySQL, and phpMyAdmin or
     [17]how to install Apache 2.0.35 on their platform. The former
     walks you through each step of the installation and configuration
     diligently whereas comparatively, the latter just skims through the
     steps but includes a few screen shots for your perusal.
       ______________________________________________________________
     
     This issue brought to you by: Mark J Cox, Joe Orton, Min Min Tsan
     Comments or criticisms? Please email us at
     [18][email protected].
     
     [19]Apache Week is copyright 1996-2002 by [20]Red Hat, Inc.

References

   1. http://www.apacheweek.com/issues/02-04-19#dev
   2. http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=8234
   3. http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=8572
   4. http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=7966
   5. http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=8014
   6. http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=8009
   7. http://www.apacheweek.com/issues/02-03-29#dev
   8. http://www.securityspace.com/
   9. http://www.netcraft.com/survey/
  10. http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2862549,00.html
  11. https://secure1.securityspace.com/s_survey/data/200204/servers.html
  12. http://ApacheCon.Com/html/lists.html
  13. http://www.apacheweek.com/features/apachecon2001
  14. http://builder.com.com/article.jhtml?id=u00320020423ere01.htm&vf=tt
  15. http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/mac/2002/04/23/apache_six.html
  16. http://apachetoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2002-04-26-001-06-OS-LF-AD
  17. http://www.swynk.com/friends/dinicolo/apache.asp
  18. mailto:[email protected]
  19. http://www.apacheweek.com/
  20. http://www.redhat.com/

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