Apache Cookbook

Book excerpt: Apache is far and away the most widely used web server platform in the world. Both free and rock-solid, it runs more than half of the world's web sites, ranging from huge e-commerce operations to corporate intranets and smaller hobby sites, and it continues to maintain its popularity, drawing new users all the time. If you work with Apache on a regular basis, you have plenty of documentation on installing and configuring your server, but where do you go for help with the day-to-day stuff, like adding common modules or fine-tuning your activity logging?The Apache Cookbook is a collection of problems, solutions, and practical examples for webmasters, web administrators, programmers, and everyone else who works with Apache. For every problem addressed in the book, there's a worked-out solution or "recipe"--short, focused pieces of code that you can use immediately. But this book offers more than cut-and-paste code. You also get explanations of how and why the code works, so you can adapt the problem-solving techniques to similar situations.The recipes in the Apache Cookbook range from simple tasks, such installing the server on Red Hat Linux or Windows, to more complex tasks, such as setting up name-based virtual hosts or securing and managing your proxy server. The two hundred plus recipes in the book cover additional topics such as: Security Aliases, Redirecting, and Rewriting CGI Scripts, the suexec Wrapper, and other dynamic content techniques Error Handling SSL Performance The impressive collection of useful code in this book is a guaranteed timesaver for all Apache users, from novices to advanced practitioners. Instead of poking around mailing lists, online documentation, and other sources, you can rely on the Apache Cookbook for quick solutions to common problems, and then you can spend your time and energy where it matters most.