Overview

The World Wide Web is the fastest growing segment of the Internet, and HTTP traffic makes up over 70 percent of the total network bandwidth. Electronic commerce has provided a new virtual storefront for businesses trying to stay on the cutting edge of technology.

The Web has also been a boon to organizations seeking an inexpensive means to publish and distribute information. And with increasing computing power, decreasing prices, free operating systems such as Linux, and free Web servers such as Apache and TUX, it's getting even easier for anyone to establish a presence on the Web.

This chapter shows you how to install and configure the Apache Web server. Each of the server's configuration files is described and explained in detail. You learn about various options for starting and stopping the server, as well as how to monitor the activity of a Web server. Security is an issue addressed throughout the chapter in the descriptions and examples.