Apache HTTP Server 2.4 Released

A new major version of the Apache HTTP server — possibly the most popular web server in use right now — has been released. The latest 2.4.1 release comes after over 6 years of the previous major release, Apace 2.2.

In recent years, with the requirement for increasingly scalable applications, Apache has be relegated in favour of new-coming servers such as nginx (used by WordPress, Hulu and GitHub), and lighttpd (used by high traffic websites such as YouTube, Wikipedia, and The Pirate Bay). The latest release featurs numerous core enhancements that go some way in making Apache faster, more asynchronous and less memory-consuming.

Here are some of the enhancements that come in this latest release:

• Run-time Loadable MPMs
• Event MPM
• Asynchronous support
• Per-module and per-directory LogLevel configuration
• Per-request configuration sections
• General-purpose expression parser
• KeepAliveTimeout in milliseconds
• NameVirtualHost directive
• Override Configuration – more fine grained control for directives in .htaccess files.
• Config file variables
• Reduced memory usage

In addition numerous new modules have also been introduced, and old modules too have been enhanced. You can find out more here or you can download the Apache HTTP server for your platform from here .