Apache: The Definitive Guide

This book has been wasted money for me. I am new to Apache and so needed a well structured introduction; unfortunately the book is not clearly written enough to provide that.

One of the biggest issue is that it is very dated; a lot of the information is simply no longer relevant, and often no longer correct. It is desperately in need of a new version; ideally accompanied by a complete re-write.

The book's success has relied on the O'Reilly name and the fact that the competition is poor. I have had to turn to online docs and other internet resources to get the information I need.

Not for the 21st century (6/7 people found this helpful)

I cannot recall the last time I was left feeling that a book purchase was a complete waste of money. Firstly, let me say that I took an almost immediate dislike to the book, relegating it to the back of a cupboard after several chapters. I have two basic problems based on what I did read: the book is dated in its content and is dated in its style. Technically, a lot of the information provided seems obsolete in the face of the excellent Apache 2.x online documentation. Despite the bold declaration on the exterior that this edition now covers version 2.0 you'll still find a lot of old 1.3 examples within. The sections relating to topics such as server side logic and Tomcat connectivity are simply a joke and cannot have been updated since the second edition (circa last century).

The book is largely composed of content taken directly from the official Apache documentation. When the authors do provide original material it is often highly parochial and has a horrible tendency to veer off course. There is an obsession with FreeBSD that is virtually monomaniacal and rarely is the opportunity missed to take issue with win32 or display disdain for the popularity of Linux. The two authors conjure images of hoary old academics who never quite manage to put aside their technological bigotry and I simply cannot accept this tone in a technical book.

In its present form this title only serves to tarnish both the good name of O'Reilly and any confidence in Apache as a commercial solution. Unless you are running a seriously old version of the server you would be better advised to spend a little time searching the Web for practical answers to your problems. For more general information, the official Apache documentation is of course free, accurate and up-to-date.

This book served its purpose. (16/17 people found this helpful)

Now you may think that there are better books out there. And there maybe. However this book is a "five star" book. I bought this book for a beginning apache class. We were able to follow the instructions and down load the Apache server from the Internet. The only problem we had was with the NIS system that was not anticipated in this book. It was a lot more important to use this book to read the flat files and see how they were related to each other. The section on Extra Modules (chapter 12) gave a way to improve the server and go outside the scope of this book. This book covered more details than I was looking for; this ways different people can use the book to target their particular needs. You can safely say:

Concise text (9/12 people found this helpful)

Needed for a project (normally use other http stacks) and I had to configure two sites. Having all this information in one single place is great.

With the help of my book I transfered two sites from a non Microsoft http product to apache in an hour without any major hassles/downtime. Recommended.

Essential Text! (13/21 people found this helpful)

This fantastic book is an essential read for any webmaster who wants to learn more about what goes on 'behind the scenes' of their website.

Once you've made your way through this book, you'll be configuring web servers like a pro (almost!)

Ben Laurie, Peter Laurie

Reader Reviews:

Not updated since 2002 (3/3 people found this helpful)

Not for the 21st century (6/7 people found this helpful)

This book served its purpose. (16/17 people found this helpful)

Concise text (9/12 people found this helpful)

Essential Text! (13/21 people found this helpful)

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