iX 6.5)

144 Chapter9

Apache for MPE/iX

Introduction

Users make requests to the web server via a client browser using the

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The client browser can be any one

of a variety of browsers, including those from Microsoft and Netscape.

The sole purpose of a web server is to translate the client’s request

(URL) into either a ﬁlename, and then send that ﬁle back over the

network, or into a program name, and then run that program and send

its output back.

Once you start the executable, HTTPD, Apache runs silently in the

background, waiting for a client’s request to arrive on a port to which it

is listening. Apache listens on the port speciﬁed in its conﬁguration ﬁle.

When a request arrives, Apache hands the request to one of its child

processes to service and returns to listen again on the port.