Chapter 4. mod_perl Configuration

The next step after building and installing a mod_perl-enabled Apache server is to configure it. This is done in two distinct steps: getting the server running with a standard Apache configuration, and then applying mod_perl-specific configuration directives to get the full benefit out of it.

For readers who haven't previously been exposed to the Apache web server, our discussion begins with standard Apache directives and then continues with mod_perl-specific material.

The startup.pl file can be used in many ways to improve performance. We will talk about all these issues later in the book. In this chapter, we discuss the configuration possibilities that the startup.pl file gives us.

<Perl> sections are a great time saver if you have complex configuration files. We'll talk about <Perl> sections in this chapter.

Another important issue we'll cover in this chapter is how to validate the configuration file. This is especially important on a live production server. If we break something and don't validate it, the server won't restart. This chapter discusses techniques to prevent validation problems.

At the end of this chapter, we discuss various tips and tricks you may find useful for server configuration, talk about a few security concerns related to server configuration, and finally look at a few common pitfalls people encounter when they misconfigure their servers.