Servers are the machines responsible for providing information on the websites and services that we access over the internet, that is, they are the computers and systems that store the information accessed whenever the user makes a request through browsers and online services.
What is Apache Server?
In addition to dedicated operating systems, servers use software that interfaces between the server and the user, and it is exactly for this purpose that the Apache software was developed.
It is very popular with web developers and has become one of the most used worldwide. Extremely competent and versatile, Apache is software that has open source and free distribution (open-source), even being used even by the corporate environment.
Main features
Apache software is known to be a powerful and constantly evolving tool, since, as it is an open source system, it receives a large number of updates, being less vulnerable. The patches that update the code are constant, which keeps Apache always stable and able to handle a greater number of requests.
Another feature that appeals to Apache developers is its modularity, which allows the application of specific features according to their demand, as well as the features that can be improved according to each project.
How does Apache work?
Like most web servers, the software is capable of carrying out all the procedures for transmitting data over the web. The service obtains the domain’s IP address from the cache or the DNS server, requests the full URL through the browser and transmits the responses from the server, sending the requested pages and presenting the appropriate messages for each user.
Apache has been in operation since 1995, and its prestige has made the software gain about 43% of its market, being used by Airbnb, eBay, Netflix, Cisco and other technology giants.
Features and compatibility
As it is a complete tool, Apache offers a wide variety of features, such as administrative control panel, sending customizable error messages, authentication scheme, virtual host module (allows you to run multiple sites simultaneously), in addition to SMTP and FTP, which are protocols for data and file transfers.
In addition to being able to be used in conjunction with other complementary systems, Apache is compatible with the main operating systems, such as Linux, Windows NT, MacOS and Unix. The software also supports the programming languages PHP, Perl and Python, which are the most used by web developers today.
