Switching Painlessly from IIS to Apache?

Sheik Yerboutii asks: "The recent downtime caused by the Code Red and NIMDA worms has prompted my Manager to start considering moving away from IIS to Apache. I've been tasked with finding out just how difficult it will be to move to the new webserver. I've got to find out things like how to install and configure it (relatively easy, it's all documented at www.apache.org) but also, things like what do we de now that we've been working in VBScript ASP for about 6 moths?" We posted a similar question to this one, just over a year ago. Any changes or additions to the advice given in that discussion?

"I've read that Apache::ASP exists and that's got something to do with mod_perl but now I'm going in circles figuring out how to make this thing work. I also can't find straight answers on things like if we make the cut over, will we have to convert the VBScript ASP to Perl ASP?

Can anyone relay their experiences with cutting from IIS to Apache? Running ASP with Apache? Most importantly, what are the best resources available for Apache administrators? (hopefully something with a discussion forum)"

Comments

Apache + ASP/VBScript

[1010011010]

Is there a way to simply run ASP from within Apache for Windows?
It would be a much simpler solution...

Getting the word out about Apache

[Rude Turnip]

I recently received the ASA (American Society of Appraisers) email newsletter. Someone wrote an article talking about the recent Nimbda and WTC.EXE attacks and how we should be careful to update our virus software, not open attachments, etc. She also mentioned the Gartner Group recommendation. However, no alternatives to IIS were discussed. I sent off an email talking about Apache's strength and popularity over IIS. I also referenced this discussion in my email. Here is the text of what I wrote:

*****
Thank you for writing your informative article regarding recent computer virus and worm attacks in the ASA BV E-Letter. Since a number of valuation analysts sometimes find themselves administering the corporate network (as two associates do at my company), the tips you provided and the accompanying links will be very helpful. I took notice to one particular passage in your article:

"On September 25, 2001, the research group Gartner warned enterprises to
'immediately' replace their Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS)server software with a more secure server application."

I have been reading about Gartner's recommendation through various news outlets, but no one ever seems to go on and actually talk about alternatives. I would like to offer you, and any other E-Letter readers that may ask, some information on at least one alternative.

The Apache Software Foundation (www.apache.org) develops the Apache HTTP (web) Server. Here is an excerpt from their "about" page that discusses their overall mission:

"The Apache Project is a collaborative software development effort aimed at creating a robust, commercial-grade, featureful, and freely-available source code implementation of an HTTP (Web) server. The project is jointly managed by a group of volunteers located around the world, using the Internet and the Web to communicate, plan, and develop the server and its related documentation. These volunteers are known as the Apache Group. In addition, hundreds of users have contributed ideas, code, and documentation to the project. This file is intended to briefly describe the history of the Apache Group and recognize the many contributors."

Apache is actually the number one used web server on the internet. According to Netcraft, an organization that surveys the internet and collects web server and usage statistics, Apache held an approximate 60% market share of active web sites as of August 2001, versus an approximate 28% market share for Microsoft's IIS. Survey results here: http://www.netcraft.com/survey/ This survey includes over 30 million web sites and does not dilineate between corporate use, personal use, Fortune 500/100 companies, etc. (as some other surveys do).

In addition, Apache (especially when used in conjunction with UNIX-based operating systems) tends to provide a more secure web server solution. A recent Ziff-Davis (ZDNet) article from July 20 discusses the security robustness of Apache over IIS. Here is the link: www.zdnet.com/eweek/stories/general/0,11011,279286 0,00.html

Finally, I refer you to this link: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/09/25/194204 Slashdot.org provides an open forum to discuss current events, news articles and various topics, all loosely tied to their relevance to information technology. The topic of this particular link is "Switching Painlessly from IIS to Apache?" A network administrator has received a mandate from management to explore a systems migration from IIS to Apache, largely due to the recent Code Red and Nimda attacks. The discussion that follows provides a plethora of informative, insightful and interesting comments.

Again, thank you for writing your article and I hope that some of the information I have provided you today will be helpful to our industry colleagues.
*****

Anyone in a similar situation is free to copy this letter and mark it up appropriately for their needs.