Apache builds more solid 2.0 Web server

The Apache Group is currently trying to encourage take-up of the Apache 2.0 Web server by making the product more stable and by issuing less frequent alterations to its application programming interfaces (APIs).

Apache will continue its strategy of distributing two versions of the software - one for production sites and one for developers. Apache 1.3x has been considered the stable version suitable for production Web sites and Apache 2.0 has been the development version, used by only a handful of sites that need its unique functionality and are prepared to work around operational difficulties, according to experts.

In future, it is intended that version 2.0 will become a stable version for production sites, while version 2.1 will be a development version with more frequent additions being made to its functionality.

Some users suggested that few sites run Apache 2.0 owing to the lack of add-in modules to support functions such as Perl and PHP scripting. Others complain that the handling of Apache 2.0 Java modules is made more difficult because some libraries used by the Java module do not support multi-threading, while others do. The cost of discovering whether a site can safely operate with this kind of uncertainty is often prohibitive for companies.

However, many users would like to work with Apache 2.0 because aspects of its performance are superior. One user told IT Week he would prefer dealing with Apache 2.0 because it serves more pages using less hardware, compared with version 1.x. Similar performance improvements are also promised by the add-in modules.

For example, the Perl module that is under development enables a multi-threaded Apache 2.0 server to improve the running of Perl scripts, compared with the Apache 1.x environment. One Webmaster said he managed to delay purchasing new server hardware simply by upgrading to Apache 2.0.

IT Week recently found that Apache 2.0 software is used by less than 0.5 percent of Web sites, compared with about 66 percent using Apache 1.3x. In the long term, Apache can only hope to maintain its market-leading position if users upgrade to 2.x versions, which are the only ones to properly support new features such as multi-threading.

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See also:

Apache 2.0 gains stability

Work on version 2.1 of the open source Apache Web server software has begun, meaning further improvements to version 2.0 will concentrate on improving stability  13 Dec 2002

Waka leads Apache agenda

The new Waka protocol, designed as a replacement for HTTP 1.1, will take centre stage at this week's ApacheCon developer conference in Las Vegas  18 Nov 2002

Yahoo adopts PHP script

Internet giant Yahoo has picked PHP over alternatives like Java, ASP.Net and Perl for its server-side programming  04 Nov 2002

Linux giant gives backing to Apache 2

Red Hat is bundling Apache 2 with its latest Linux distribution for servers  07 Oct 2002

Web sites reject Apache 2

Regular changes to the Apache 2 API has developers questioning its usability  05 Sep 2002

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