Mini Servers: Introduction: Difference between revisions

Apache is a battle-hardened server the new version (2.2.9) bristles with all manner of goodies. Its main features are stability, performance and security some would say at the expense of complexity. In this series I hope to dispel this myth of complexity, what makes Apache so versatile is its wide range of extensions (modules) providing numerous features. This modular approach allows you to tailor the server to your own requirements.

Everyone seems to want bigger better servers with all those bells and whistles occasionally all I want is a small compact test server that performs one specific task and easily configurable. I never like to use something I neither trust or understand hence hack Uniform Server to meet these needs.

Uniform Server’s basic architecture and Apache core make for truly ace compact portable servers. Instead of throwing these away I thought it worthwhile to document and publish them hence this mini server series. In the series I emphasise the need for security don’t take security for granted search the Internet for professional advice and implement.

What use are they? Well these are not toys; first in the series is a small production server for serving basic HTML pages. Minor changes to this basic server allow you to explore and learn server side languages such as Perl and PHP. In keeping with my minimalist philosophy they use only core language elements. Don’t be deceived by this approach they are small powerhouses capable of producing some impressive web sites.

If you do require full language capability use Uniform Server 3.5-Apollo, transferring from a mini server will not be difficult since they are based on 3.5-Apollo’s architecture. (These servers were tested on Windows XP Home only.)