Apache Essentials: Install, Configure, Maintain [Paperback]

While this book will not make you an Apache guru it does give you all the basics you need to get an Apache server up and running on Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X. The author literally starts at the very beginning by discussing what a web server is and the basics of how one works. From there he examines the history of the Apache web server and how it compares to Microsoft IIS as well as which operating system might be the best one for you. Each server operating system has its pros and cons when used as an Apache server and each benefit and shortcoming is listed.

Installation of the Apache server is also covered from the very beginning with how to get the source code. After installing the program the author turns to configuring the server, setting up your domain, and setting up users. He even covers setting up virtual hosting so you can host multiple web sites on one IP address.

On the positive side the book covers all the essentials for basic setup and configuration of an Apache server including information on setting up Perl, PHP, and Server Side Includes. On the negative side it leaves out a lot of detail on the configuration files and other items. If you need to do anything different or unusual you will need another book. "Apache Essentials" is a recommended book if you need a good overview that has all the basic information to get Apache up and running quickly with a standard configuration.

"Apache Essentials: Install, Configure, Maintain" by Darren James Harkness promises to "explain how to configure Apache using plain language, giving examples that matter to you" and to turn the reader into an "Apache superstar." Disappointingly, it doesn't deliver on these promises. The book reads more like a book report than a technical volume, in that the author seems to have chosen only a handful of his favorite Apache topics to write about in some depth, to give the book its meat. Unfortunately, you really can't (or shouldn't) learn something as complex as Apache configuration by reading the Cliff Notes.

Throughout his book, Harkness makes his disdain for "propellerheads" quite clear. Unfortunately, it takes someone with deep technical knowledge to install, configure and maintain a large, secure, production web server. By purposely avoiding "propellerhead" details, the book ends up not delivering sufficient information or training to allow the reader to accomplish these goals. While the information in the book may be adequate for getting started with a small, non-critical Apache server in the ideal environment, the reader will need to turn to his "propellerhead" friends -- or to a more technical book -- the first time something doesn't go exactly as expected.

The coverage of topics is superficial and spotty. While some esoteric topics are discussed in excruciating detail (like the five pages of options listed for the Linux-only logrotate application), other important topics are glossed over or skipped entirely. A particularly glaring weakness is in the coverage of Apache user authentication: The .htpassword file is mentioned only in passing, with no mention of how to create it or how to format it until 100 pages later in the middle of an unrelated example, when it simply says the .htpassword file is "created through using the htpassword utility" and nothing else. Sadly, this is fairly typical of the coverage given to some important topics.

Looking at the three areas mentioned in the book's subtitle:

1) INSTALL: The chapter on installing Apache is a whopping seven pages long (yes, that says "seven," not "seventy"), and one of those pages is given over in its entirety to two short tables and another to a screenshot of the Apache default homepage. The only things actually covered in the remaining five pages are some system requirements and choosing between the source and binary versions. Incredibly, the "Installing Apache" chapter never actually tells you how to install Apache. (Compare this treatment to that given in either of David Powers "Foundation PHP" books from the same publisher, where dozens of pages are given to Apache (and PHP) installation, with seemingly every possible troubleshooting step and contingency clearly laid out.)

2) CONFIGURE: The bulk of the book is devoted to Apache configuration, but again the treatment is spotty. While the reader will indeed get an adequate grasp of custom error messages, for example, the information provided on scripting and server-side includes is not even sufficient for a loose grasp. The chapter on SSL will leave anyone's head spinning -- whether or not there's a propeller on top of his head.

3) MAINTAIN: At 27 pages, the chapter on Apache log files is the longest chapter in the book, thanks mostly to exhaustive, multiple-page listings of various options and settings. While the reader will exit with a good knowledge of Apache logs, there's little else in the book about maintaining an active Apache server.

The only audience for whom I might recommend this book would be designers who are interested in having a high-level idea of how Apache is configured, but who would never need to install, configure, or maintain it themselves. Those designers who actually do need to learn how to accomplish these tasks would be much better served by the above-mentioned chapters in David Powers's books, combined with the ubiquitous (and free) downloadable Apache tutorials on the internet.

Harkness does a nice job of two things. First, in arguing persuasively that you should use Apache as your web server. They cite the massive installed base; the largest of any web server. The only major competitor is Microsoft's Internet Information Server. But IIS has been continuously riddled with bugs. Whereas for Apache, these are rare. Plus, the Apache open source community can respond within a few days to a discovered bug. With IIS, you are dependent on Microsoft's schedule for a patch.

The second reason offered by him takes up the bulk of the book. Namely, how to install and maintain it. But this is not a bulky book. As he shows, the Apache community has expended serious effort in making this as painless as possible. Even for the tyro sysadmin, if that happens to be you.

Harkness gives details on how to use Secure Sockets Layer, and making log files, for example. In the latter case, he doesn't seem to say explicitly, but the log files still are not the easiest thing to analyse, even with what Apache offers you. There are independent programs that do a neat job of analysing and summarising those files. But these are not part of Apache, and so outside the book's purview. The good news is that if you get to this point in your usage, you will be very familiar with Apache.