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Apache 2.0.44 Released
rbowen writes "The Apache Software Foundation is pleased to announce the release of Apache 2.0.44, which addresses a number of security issues. Download it from your favorite mirror." Rich notes that it fixes some important security problems (under Windows) for the Windows version. Also interesting is that now there truly is a split between a development and regular releases, adopting the Linux kernel model, with 2.1 being the dev Apache tree and 2.0 being the release tree.
"Rich notes that it fixes some important security problems (under Windows) for the Windows version"
I fixed that server security problem a long time ago...I just moved my Windows server from underneath the window to the rack beside the window.
Better than a poke in the eye? Two in the bush? Using a bloke manually replying to all server requests?
new features
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
Try to crack mine then.
The IP is 207.46.248.109
Heck, we'd use it....
If mod_perl 2.0 was released....
-- Spankmeister General
Actually, the issues they have under Windows are legal and nothing else. In fact, it works just great (if you don't believe me, compile Apache with SSL under Windows (you'll need Visual C++ 5 and up)... Apache Software Foundation even gives you detailed instructions on how to do it!)!
Since Apache 2.0.x is the first version of Apache for Windows that is largely considered a Production release they are debating the legal issues of releasing a BINARY version of Apache 2.0.x for Win32 compiled with OpenSSL libraries. This is especially the case since they are not SELLING the software to do it, so they can not really control who would use it. They will figure something out, but in the meantime, do not release it in their binaries.
As a matter of fact, Apache 2.0.4x Win32 can easily be setup to use OpenSSL and ModSSL! This is thoroughly explained at this web site. It even explains to you where to get binary distributions of it (not directly from Apache as discussed above).
In fact, on a single Pentium II or III with Win2k (even workstation) you have plenty of horsepower to use SSL and Apache 2.0.x. I would like to mention a couple of things, I use it in an academic environment and it has been running stable and secure for almost half a year now.
It has a commercial SSL certificate on it. Apache 2.0.x on Win32 is quite a bit tricky to get your private key and public certificate to work if it is PEM encoded. If it is not PEM encoded, it is a snap! That right there is one thing that can save you hours of head banging on wall! Make sure your key and certificate after you've received them are not PEM encoded for less aggravation. You can always run them through (at least the cert) OpenSSL to remove the encoding.
Also, your certificate chain must be put together the right way, but you should get instructions for that from your certificate authority.
I agree, Apache on Win32 is a much better choice than IIS. IIS can be a relatively secure product if administered properly. There are, of course, numerous security holes that have been publicized, and it should be mentioned that most were left open by the administrators who should have known better. They got IIS to work and didn't bother with security! Most of the reasons to NOT use IIS are the fact that you need at least NT Server 4, 5, 6, etc. (the workstation version of IIS is too limited for production usage) and the steep licensing that costs, and the fact that it has much more features than 99.9% of websites will need!
Apache, on the other hand, gives you a relatively secure environment from the get-go that makes you ADD the features you need. After working with Apache it should become apparent that this is clearly the way to go. Intelligent administration of servers can really make almost any modern OS relatively secure. Perhaps if Apache on Win32 catches on it may encite people to port more great open source server software to natively run on Win32 as Apache does (does not use Cygwin... though you CAN of couse, use the Cygwin version of Apache which won't perform as well as the Native Win32 version does). Plus, Apache can run just fine on NT workstation (saving plenty of money on the NT server licenses)!
Interestingly enough, Apache Win32 in our setup outperforms other departments at our institution using IIS on Win32! Perhaps benchmarks in this area should be publicized a bit more!
-Joe
If we're all god's children, what's so special about Jesus? - Jimmy Carr