There is also a follow up article written by one of the httpd developers about 'What Apache brings to the table.' The article cites community, experience, legal framework, diversity, brand strength, and networking as reasons why developers and companies should consider bringing their projects over to Apache."
Two words why you shouldn't use Apache unless you absolutely need to (and most apache users don't NEED apache): configuration complexity.
Apache's configuration file hasn't changed dramatically since
Yes, Apache (Web server) is somewhat hard to configure. There's a large file with a lot of (documented) features and settings, and a lot of ways to go wrong there. On the other hand, Apache is incredibly flexible: You can use it as a proxy, it does ssl, it fronts for Java Web servers, it rewrites URLs, it authenticates, it slices, it dices and I'm probably just scratching the surface.
Someone who knows his way around the config file - and that's really the only crucial thing to know about Apache - is able to
I know this will probably get laughed at, but seriously... What about IIS ?
AFAIK, ebay uses IIS, and from what I've used of it, it can do just as much as Apache (but I only have limited experience of both....)
My only experience with IIS is the exercise of exorcising it on sight whenever I accidentally activate it in Windows. One reason I do this is that I'm reasonably familiar and comfortable with Apache, and would rather take the trouble to install Apache on a Windows box than fiddle with the available IIS. Another is that I've heard some bad things. Don't sue me for this, I don't know if this is true:
Frequent security issues. AFAIK, more than Apache.
Microsoft once tried to switch a Web site of their own from Apache to IIS, and failed. They quickly fell back to Apache after their IIS-based site crashed and burned in some way. I seem to remember the name Akmai associated with this story.
configuring apache #1 complaint, still unaddressed (Score:2, Interesting)
Two words why you shouldn't use Apache unless you absolutely need to (and most apache users don't NEED apache): configuration complexity.
Apache's configuration file hasn't changed dramatically since
Configuration complexity (Score:5, Insightful)
On the other hand, Apache is incredibly flexible: You can use it as a proxy, it does ssl, it fronts for Java Web servers, it rewrites URLs, it authenticates, it slices, it dices and I'm probably just scratching the surface.
Someone who knows his way around the config file - and that's really the only crucial thing to know about Apache - is able to
Re:Configuration complexity (Score:1, Interesting)
IIS (Score:2)