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| Apache (web server) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Apache HTTP Server |
| Developer | Apache Software Foundation |
| Released | 1995 |
| Operating system | Unix-like, Microsoft Windows, macOS |
| Genre | Web server |
| License | Apache License 2.0 |
Apache (web server) The Apache HTTP Server is a widely used open-source web server software first released in 1995. It is developed and maintained by the Apache Software Foundation community and has played a central role in the early expansion of the World Wide Web, hosting content for organizations such as NASA, The New York Times, Wikipedia, University of Oxford, and Stanford University. Apache influenced subsequent projects including Nginx, Lighttpd, Microsoft Internet Information Services, Google Web Server, and Amazon Web Services offerings.
Development began in the wake of the NCSA HTTPd project's slowdown, with contributors from institutions like National Center for Supercomputing Applications, MIT, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Harvard University and companies such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, Red Hat. The project coalesced under the Apache Software Foundation in 1999, following governance models similar to GNU Project and Free Software Foundation. Milestones include major releases aligned with efforts by organizations like Mozilla Foundation and integrations with platforms from Microsoft and Oracle Corporation. Apache’s evolution intersected with events and technologies such as the rise of Linux, the spread of Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, and initiatives from Open Source Initiative and Creative Commons proponents. Key contributors included developers affiliated with Lucent Technologies, Intel, Google, and Yahoo!.
Apache’s modular architecture allows dynamic extension through modules developed by groups at Red Hat, Debian, Canonical, and independent teams at Rackspace and Cloudflare. The core is written in C (programming language) and supports multi-processing modules influenced by designs from UNIX System V and Berkeley Software Distribution. Apache can run in prefork, worker, and event MPMs with conceptual parallels to concurrency approaches used by Erlang runtime and Node.js event loops. Integration points include interfaces used by PHP, Perl, Python (programming language), Ruby, and Java Servlet containers such as Apache Tomcat and Jetty. Modules enable interoperability with protocols and standards championed by IETF and W3C.
Apache provides features such as virtual hosting, URL rewriting, authentication, and access control used by institutions like Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, and European Space Agency. It supports extensions comparable to those in Nginx and Varnish for caching, as well as TLS/SSL via OpenSSL and GnuTLS implementations. Content negotiation, compression using algorithms from IETF RFCs, logging compatible with Syslog, and support for protocol extensions such as HTTP/2 and modules relevant to WebSocket enable deployments in environments run by Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks, and HP. Apache’s module ecosystem includes work originating from Mozilla Corporation, IBM Research, Microsoft Research, and community contributors from GitHub and GitLab.
Configuration relies on declarative files like httpd.conf and .htaccess, practices also used by administrators at Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Pinterest. System administrators from organizations such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft Azure, and DigitalOcean use orchestration tools influenced by Ansible, Puppet, Chef, and SaltStack to manage Apache deployments. Logging and monitoring integrate with systems and projects like Nagios, Prometheus, Elastic Stack, and Splunk. Packaging and distribution are managed by vendors such as Debian Project, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora Project, and commercial offerings from SUSE and Oracle Linux.
Performance tuning uses techniques also applied in systems engineered by Netflix, Spotify, Dropbox, and Slack. Load balancing and high availability are accomplished with proxies and tools from HAProxy, F5 Networks, NGINX Plus, and cloud features from Amazon Elastic Load Balancing and Google Cloud Load Balancing. Benchmarks often compare Apache with Nginx, Lighttpd, Caddy (web server), and custom servers employed by Facebook and Google for large-scale content delivery networks such as Akamai and Cloudflare. Scalability strategies reference design patterns practiced within LinkedIn and YouTube infrastructures.
Security features include TLS support via OpenSSL and BoringSSL efforts, access control mechanisms following guidelines from CERT and ISO/IEC standards, and modules addressing threats cataloged by MITRE and discussed at conferences like Black Hat and DEF CON. Vulnerability responses have involved coordination with maintainers at Ubuntu Security Team, Red Hat Security Response Team, and disclosure processes used by CVE Program and National Vulnerability Database. Hardening practices align with recommendations from NIST and community audits from organizations such as OWASP.
Apache has been used by governments including United States Department of Defense, cultural institutions like British Museum, academic centers including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology, and enterprises such as Salesforce, Oracle Corporation, and eBay. Its long-term adoption influenced commercial offerings by IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services and inspired the development of ecosystems around LAMP stacks adopted by projects like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!, Magento, and MediaWiki. Community and corporate contributions continue via foundations and repositories associated with Apache Software Foundation, Linux Foundation, OpenStack Foundation, and major code hosting platforms like GitHub and GitLab.
Category:Web server software