What Is Apache HTTP Server

The Apache HTTP Server, often called “Apache” or “httpd”, is one of the most widely used web servers in the world. A web server is a program that listens for requests from browsers and sends back web pages, images, and other files over HTTP.

What a Web Server Does

When you type an address in your browser, it sends an HTTP request. Apache receives that request, finds the matching file or application, and returns an HTTP response with the content.

Why Use Apache

• Free and open source.
• Runs on Linux, Windows, and macOS.
• Highly configurable through text files.
• Huge ecosystem of modules.

Static vs Dynamic Content

Apache can serve static files directly, such as HTML or CSS. It can also pass requests to applications (for example PHP) to generate dynamic pages.

# Check if Apache is responding locally
curl -I http://localhost

A typical response line looks like this:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: Apache

The 200 OK means the request succeeded. Throughout this course you will learn how to install, configure, and tune Apache step by step.