Apache 2.0

April 17, 2002 4:10 PM UTC
The web's dominant server is now outdoing IIS on Microsoft's own turf.

Apache is far and away the most popular HTTP server on the Internet, with a 60% market share to Microsoft's less than 30%, but now when Apache can compete with Microsoft on the Redmond company's own turf, there is little reason for the harried MS netadmins to stick anymore with the buggy Microsoft product. Apache integrates into an existing Microsoft network and replaces IIS completely - gone are the vulnerabilities, the bugs, the buffer overruns, the advisories, the patches - all those headaches. Apache's security record is exemplary and well known. Now it comes to the world of MS Windows.

Version 2.0 is a significant update, with Unix threading, platform-specific multiprocessing modules, the Apache Portable Runtime, a new Apache API, support for IPv6, filtering, multilanguage error responses, a simplified configuration and native NT Unicode support. But the most sensational feature is how Apache can now essentially run IIS - in native Windows API code - without all the IIS bugs.

Apache 2.0 is designed to be able to run on Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000. Apache can even run on Windows 95, 98 and ME, but these are not tested platforms, and the Apache Software Foundation does not recommend using these platforms for production servers. The Apache website has an extensive walk-through of installing and testing Apache on Windows.

Visit the Apache HTTP Server Project website for more information.