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🌐 Apache HTTP Server (httpd) Overview

Apache HTTP Server, commonly known as Apache or httpd, is one of the most popular and powerful open-source web servers in the world. It has been around since 1995 and is maintained by the Apache Software Foundation.

🧠 What Is Apache Used For?​

  • Serving static websites (HTML, CSS, JS)
  • Hosting dynamic web applications (PHP, Python, Perl)
  • Acting as a reverse proxy
  • Supporting virtual hosting (multiple sites on one server)
  • Running on Linux, Windows, macOS, and other platforms

✨ Features of Apache​

  • 🧹 Modular architecture – Load only what you need
  • 🧠 Highly configurable with support for .htaccess
  • 🔐 Built-in security features
  • 📆 Rich ecosystem of modules: mod_rewrite, mod_ssl, mod_proxy, etc.
  • 📊 Extensive logging and monitoring

🧾 Common Use Cases​

  • Hosting personal blogs to enterprise-level apps
  • As a frontend web server or backend application server
  • Load balancing, caching, and SSL termination

🧑‍💻 Fun Fact: Apache was named from “a patchy server” due to the many patches added early in its development.