What is Apache HTTP Server?

Apache HTTP Server (usually called just Apache) is an open-source web server

developed by the Apache Software Foundation. Apache is the most popular web
server software on the Internet; it is estimated that 50% of all active websites use
Apache as their web server.
The Apache project was launched in 1995 and was based on an older web server
software called NCSA HTTPd. The software is free and open-source, licensed under
the Apache License that allows the user of the software the freedom to use the software
for any purpose, to distribute it, to modify it, and to distribute modified versions of the
software.
Apache HTTP Server is cross-platform. It is available for a number of operating
systems, including:

 Windows
 OS X
 Linux
 Unix
 FreeBSD
 Solaris

Apache support many features and its functionality can be extended using compiled
modules. Here are the major features:

 a very robust web server that can handle large volumes of traffic.
 one Apache installation can serve many different Web sites using virtual hosts.
 configurable error messages.
 supported by several graphical user interfaces (e.g. ApacheConf).
 supports password and digital certificate authentication.
 supports load balancing across multiple servers.

What is a web server?

Although Apache can be used in many ways (e.g. as a proxy server or a load balancer),
it is commonly used as a web server. A web server is a software with a primary
function to store, process and deliver web pages to clients. The protocol used to deliver
web pages is HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol).
HTTP is a client-server protocol; a client (usually a web browser) requests a resource (a
web page) from a web server. The web server responds with the requested web page.
Here is a graphical representation of the communication between a web client and a
web server:
As you can see in the picture above, the client wants to access http://google.com and
points the browser to the URL http://google.com (this is an example of an HTTP
Request message). The web server (running Apache or a similar web server software)
hosting http://google.com receives the request and responds with the content of the
web page (an HTTP response message).

Web servers usually use a well-known TCP port 80. If the port is not specified in a URL,
browsers will use this port when sending HTTP request. For example, you will get the
same result when requesting http://google.com and http://google.com:80.

Install Apache on Ubuntu

Apache HTTP Server is usually installed on a Linux distribution, although it has been
ported to other operating systems as well. In this section we will describe a how to
install Apache on Ubuntu, one of the most popular Linux distributions out there. The
process is really simple and involves just two commands. +
First, update the packages on your Ubuntu installation by running the sudo apt-get
update && sudo apt-get upgrade command:+
+

After the upgrade process finishes, run the sudo apt-get install apache2 command to
install Apache. Press Y when prompted:+

+
Apache should automatically start. To verify that, run the service apache2
status command:+

To verify that Apache web server is working, go to your browser and simply
type localhost in the address bar. You should get the Apache2 Ubuntu Default Page.