The Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to simply as Apache [əˈpætʃi], is a web server notable for playing a key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web. Apache was the first viable alternative to the Netscape Communications Corporation web server (currently known as Sun Java System Web Server), and has since evolved to rival other Unix-based web servers in terms of functionality and performance. The majority of all web servers using Apache are Linux web servers.
Apache is developed and maintained by an open community of developers under the auspices of the Apache Software Foundation. The application is available for a wide variety of operating systems, including Unix, FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris, Novell NetWare, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, OS/2, TPF, and eComStation. Released under the Apache License, Apache is characterized as free software and open source software.
Since April 1996 Apache has been the most popular HTTP server on the World Wide Web. As of November 2008 Apache served 50.34% of all websites.
The first version of the Apache web server was created by Robert McCool, who was heavily involved with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications web server, known simply as NCSA HTTPd. When McCool left NCSA in mid-1994, the development of httpd stalled, leaving a variety of patches for improvements circulating through e-mails. These patches were provided by a number of other developers besides McCool: Brian Behlendorf, Roy Fielding, Rob Hartill, David Robinson, Cliff Skolnick, Randy Terbush, Robert S. Thau, Andrew Wilson, Eric Hagberg, Frank Peters and Nicolas Pioch, and they thus helped to form the original "Apache Group".
There have been two explanations of the project's name. According to the Apache Foundation, the name was chosen out of respect for the Native American tribe of Apache (Indé), well-known for their endurance and their skills in warfare. However, the original FAQ on the Apache Server project's website, from 1996 to 2001, claimed that "The result after combining [the NCSA httpd patches] was A PAtCHy server. The first explanation was supported at an Apache Conference and in an interview in 2000 by Brian Behlendorf, who said that the name connoted "Take no prisoners. Be kind of aggressive and kick some ass". Behlendorf then contradicted this in a 2007 interview, stating that "The Apache server isn't named in honor of Geronimo's tribe" but that so many revisions were sent in that "the group called it 'a patchy Web server'". Both explanations are probably appropriate though the pun explanation has fallen into disfavor.
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I use Apache HTTP server since 2001 - the same time I started developing in PHP/MySQL. All projects I worked on used Apache as HTTP server, and I have very big experience here. I am proficient in:
Using Apache's modules,
System administration - installing and setting up Apache HTTP server.