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Is Apache 2.x Ready for General Use?

Posted by Cliff on from the peeking-into-the-oven dept.

Above asks: "In this article we see apache 2.0.45 has been released. Well, I plan on rebuilding my webserver soon, which means installing the "latest" version. However, I'm still on the 1.x train, which is still going strong. As someone who hasn't used 2.x, and hasn't followed the development is it ready for the masses or should I stick with 1.x and be happy? Are mod_perl and ssl (my two requirements) stable? What about all the other things (php et all)? I don't do anything fancy with my web sites, but having them "just work" and not having to upgrade every other day are both strong concerns. What are your experiences?"

4 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. Apache 2 is ready, but why bother? by MS_is_the_best · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yes, Apache 2 is stable and ready for some time. No doubt about that, it runs on lots of productions sites (check netcraft.com).

    Also mod_php, ssl and mod_php are working fine. (although shorter then Apache 2 itself). This is partly because Apache 2 wants thread-safety and some modules (actually not sure about Perl) aren't.

    Is see no particular reason not to install Apache 2, but also no reason to do. Redhat is used a lot by internet providers and ships with 2.0 default since 8.0. The 1.3 branch is still maintained and seems faster on Unix-based systems (with fork). On Windows Apache 2 wins, due to the use of threads.

    This is a bit standard answer (everyone knows this things, easy to find out), so I want to ask this: How long will all products (mod_*) still work just as good under Apache 1.3.x as under 2.0.x and will 3rd party providers drop support for 1.3 soon? (thus 'forcing' us to upgrade)?

    1. Re:Apache 2 is ready, but why bother? by jordan · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm not sure why everyone is saying PHP and Apache 2.0 aren't compatible when in a non-prefork MPM. I use the threadpool (worker thread) MPM in Apache 2.0.45 and have PHP 4.3.1, SSL 0.9.7b, MySQL 4.0.11, and Oracle 9i 9.2.0 all compiled in, and have experienced NO problems whatsoever.

      Understanding the MPM stuff is still hazy, like how to tweak the process/thread limits like I did in 1.3.x. It would be nice if someone would write up a document specifically about these (beyond the documentation already available at Apache's website). I am not yet comfortable that I've been able to sufficiently apply slashdot-effect experiences/lessons to my 2.x configuration as I have with my 1.3.x configuration.

      --jordan

  2. Re:Almost... by bryanthompson · · Score: 3, Interesting

    no kidding, getting coldfusion mx installed with apache2 was hell. Finally i got it working, but it was insane. I think it took 4 different patches, which I installed in the wrong order a few times before figuring it out.
    really, it shouldn't be that hard.

  3. Apache is fine, but the modules.... NO. by hawkbug · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've used apache 2.0.40 and 2.0.44. I use PHP and ColdFusion with apache on Red Hat Linux. Every freaking time I upgrade apache, I have to completely recompile most modules with it. And even once you get past that, there are some stability issues with PHP. I compiled in support for Apache 2.0.44 with PHP 4.3.1. So far, it's been a nightmare. PHP will randomly corrupt data that I insert into mysql tables. You may think it might be a mysql problem, but if I use the same database with Apache 1.3.27 and PHP 4.1, everything is cool. So, unless you have to switch, don't yet. They will work out the bugs, and then when they do, you know 2.0.X is gonna rock and become yet another legendary product put out by the Apache group.