Apache Cookbook
- Author: Ken Coar, Rich Bowen
- ISBN 10: 0-596-00191-6
- ISBN 13: 9780596001919
- Reviewer: Kevin Zolkiewicz
If you often find yourself working with the Apache web server, O’Reilly’s Apache Cookbook by Ken Coar and Rich Bowen is a must-have reference. The book covers everything necessary to get started with Apache, including installation on both Unix-based operating systems and Windows. Regardless of your experience level with Apache, you’re likely to find many useful tips and tricks in this book.
The book is divided nicely into “recipes”, each describing a specific problem and solution. This format allows you to easily skip topics that you’re already familiar with or simply don’t interest you. This also makes it incredibly easy to quickly reference a particular topic when you find yourself faced with a question.
One of the things that perplexed me when first using Apache was hosting multiple SSL-based web sites on a single server. Due to restrictions in how browsers work, this can be a tricky task if you only have a single IP address. Recipe 7.7, part of an entire chapter devoted to using SSL with Apache, discusses this issue and provides multiple ways to address it.
Apache Cookbook covers Apache versions 1.3, 2.0, 2.2, and even provides a peek at things to come in the upcoming 2.4 release. It discusses issues specific to both Unix-based (“Unixish”) operating systems and Windows.
This is a highly recommended book that I’ll no doubt find myself referencing time and time again.