How to Install and run Apache HTTP Server

The Apache web server is a widely used web server because of its various features such as robust media support, extensive integration with other software’s, dynamically loadable modules etcetera. It is an open source free web server on which around 46% of websites are running all over the world. There are some big organisations who are also using apache services such as The Apache HTTP server which is developed and maintained by Apache Software Foundation. IBM, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Cisco, Salesforce, VMware, Xerox, eBay and many more are other such examples.

How does it work?

There are lots of complexities underpinning how Apache HTTP server functions. Although, the basic job of all web servers is to allow the request generated by user from the browser and after getting a request, respond with appropriate content. There are some modules which add more functions in Apache HTTP modules such as Handling multi-processing modes (MPM), mod_ssl for allowing SSLv3 and TLS support. There are some features which can be seen in Apache HTTP server such as IPv6, HTTP/2, FTP, Bandwidth Throttling, URL rewriting, Perl, Lua, PHP, WebDAV, Geolocation based on IP address, Session tracking.

Performance Overview

Apache Provides a variety of MPMs (Multiprocessing Modules) which enable apache to run on either a hybrid mode, event-hybrid mode or process-based mode. Apache web server is designed in such a way that it reduces latency and increases the throughput relative by simply handling a greater number of requests which ensure reliable and consistent processing of user request within reasonable timeframes. However, for delivering static web pages, Apache 2.2 series was significantly slower than Nginx and varnish. In order to address these issues, developers of Apache HTTP server developed the Event MPM that involves use of several threads and processes in an Asynchronous event-based loop. The developed features are implemented on Apache 2.4 series in order to overcome the issues which are identified.

Installation of Apache HTTP server in Linux Lite

The Apache Web Server is available in Linux Lite default software repositories. So, the user can install it using conventional package management tools. Now, we will discuss some of the steps which are required for installation of Apache server in Linux Lite.

Firstly, we have to update the local package using command “sudo apt-get update”.

2.Now, install apache web server using “sudo apt-get install apache2”.

3.After the Installation process now we have to check the status of an Apache web server using the command “sudo systemctl status apache2”. The user can see that Apache web server is running.

4.Go to a web browser and enter “http://machine_Ip_address” in order to access the default web server home page. The user can see that the web server is successfully accessible.

5.The user can also access the web server by installing a utility called “lynx”. Using lynx the user can access the web server from terminal. In order to install lynx, the user has to use the command “sudo apt-get install lynx”.

6.Now, the user must enter the following command to access web server using terminal “lynx http://server_IP”. The user can see that the web server is successfully accessed using lynx command.