The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) this weekend announced the first general release of version 2.0 of its Apache Web server software.
The release, the first in the 2.0 series to be recommended over previous versions for production environments, has been "in the works" for almost three years, according to Greg Stein, director of the ASF.
According to Stein, this release, version 2.0.35, is "now considered our best release and should be used in preference to all older versions, including the 1.3 series".
Stein says the long wait will be worth it for users who will be able to take advantage of the higher performance of version 2.0 over the previous Apache series. Other features that have been realised in this release include the ability to run the server in a hybrid thread/process mode on platforms that support threads and process, significantly improving the scalability of the server.
Apache 2.0 includes integrated support for SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and WebDAV as well as improved HTTP proxy support, I/O layering and filtering and support for IPv6. A new API for modules has been included and is expected to resolve many of the module ordering and priority problems from 1.3. In version 2.0, module ordering is now done per-hook to allow more flexibility.
The open source Apache Web server is the most commonly used server on the Internet, according the February 2002 Netcraft Web server survey. According to the survey, 65% of sites on the Internet are hosted on the Apache Web server, followed by Microsoft (26%) and iPlanet and Zeus (1.8% and 1.1% respectively).
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