Blog: Pete Loshin

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Apache Web server Upgrade

When a big proprietary software publisher releases a major upgrade, there's usually a terrific fuss kicked up in the trade press; when an open source project revs, there's less fuss because there's less budget for fancy PR campaigns. So you may not have heard that the Apache HTTP Server Project just announced availability of Apache 2.2.0 (new feature overview).

Apache last revved with a general availability release, 2.0.35, in 2002, so this upgrade has been a long time in the making. Don't look for any budget-busting paradigm shifting here, though, since most of the changes are relatively modest.

One very important new feature, though, is support for SQL connection pooling in threaded Multi-Processing Modules (MPMs). This should make SQL database access both easier and more efficient through Apache-based websites.

Other new features include improvements to authentication and authorization modules, caching, configuration; load balancing for proxy modules; support for large (>2GB) files; smart filtering; and more.

Open source developers are very conservative when it comes to numbering and naming releases, so when a GA release like this one comes out you can bet it's rock solid. Just how does Microsoft's IIS compare?

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