windows.html revision 77f323f391debc002c4bc5dd0b5a0c6cc6b3d9e2
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Using Apache with Microsoft Windows</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<!-- Background white, links blue (unvisited), navy (visited), red (active) -->
<BODY
BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
TEXT="#000000"
LINK="#0000FF"
VLINK="#000080"
ALINK="#FF0000"
>
<!--#include virtual="header.html" -->
<H1 ALIGN="CENTER">Using Apache With Microsoft Windows</H1>
<P>This document explains how to install, configure and run
Apache 1.3b6 and later under Microsoft Windows. Please note that at
this time, Windows support is entirely experimental, and is
recommended only for experienced users. The Apache Group does not
guarantee that this software will work as documented, or even at
all. If you find any bugs, or wish to contribute in other ways, please
use our <A HREF="http://www.apache.org/bug_report.html">bug reporting
page.</A></P>
<P><STRONG>Warning: Apache on NT has not yet been optimized for performance.
Apache still performs best, and is most reliable on Unix platforms. Over
time we will improve NT performance. Folks doing comparative reviews
of webserver performance are asked to compare against Apache
on a Unix platform such as Solaris, FreeBSD, or Linux.</STRONG></P>
<P>
Most of this document assumes that you are installing Windows from a
binary distribution. If you want to compile Apache yourself (possibly
to help with development, or to track down bugs), see the section on
<A HREF="#comp">Compiling Apache for Windows</A> below.
<HR>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#req">Requirements</A>
<LI><A HREF="#down">Downloading Apache for Windows</A>
<LI><A HREF="#inst">Installing Apache for Windows (binary install)</A>
<LI><A HREF="#run">Running Apache for Windows</A>
<LI><A HREF="#use">Using Apache for Windows</A>
<LI><A HREF="#cmdline">Running Apache for Windows from the Command Line</A>
<LI><A HREF="#signal">Signalling Apache when running</A>
<LI><A HREF="#comp">Compiling Apache for Windows</A>
</UL>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="req">Requirements</A></H2>
Apache 1.3 is designed to run on Windows NT 4.0. The binary installer
will only work in Intel processors. Apache may also run on Windows 95
and Windows NT 3.5.1, but these have not been tested. In all cases
<P>
If running on Windows 95, using the "Winsock2" upgrade is recommended
but may not be necessary. If running on NT 4.0, installing Service Pack 2
is recommended.
<H2><A NAME="down">Downloading Apache for Windows</A></H2>
<P>Information on the latest version of Apache can be found on the
Apache web server at <A
list the current release, any more recent alpha or beta-test releases,
together with details of mirror web and anonymous ftp sites.</P>
<P>
You should download the version of Apache for Windows with the
<CODE>.exe</CODE> extension. This is a single file containing Apache,
ready to install and run. There may also be a <CODE>.zip</CODE> file
containing the source code, to compile Apache yourself. (If there is
no <SAMP>.zip</SAMP> file, the source will be available in a
will have to convert at least the <SAMP>.mak</SAMP> and
<SAMP>.dsp</SAMP> files to have DOS line endings before MSVC will
understand them).
<H2><A NAME="inst">Installing Apache for Windows</A></H2>
Run the Apache <SAMP>.exe</SAMP> file you downloaded above. This will
ask for:
<UL>
<LI>the directory to install Apache into (the default is
<CODE>\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache</CODE> although you can
change this to any other directory)
<LI>the start menu name (default is "Apache Web Server")
<LI>the installation type. The "Typical" option installs
everything except the source code. The "Minimum" option does not
install the manuals or source code. Choose the "Custom" install if
you want to install the source code.
</UL>
<P>
During the installation, Apache will configure the files in the
<SAMP>conf</SAMP> directory for your chosen installation
directory. However if any of the files in this directory already exist
they will <STRONG>not</STRONG> be overwritten. Instead the new copy of
the corresponding file will be left with the extension
<SAMP>.default</SAMP>. So, for example, if
but the version which would have been installed will be left in
finished you should manually check to see what in new in the
<SAMP>.default</SAMP> file, and if necessary update your existing
configuration files.
<P>
file will be installed either). This should mean it a safe to install
Apache over an existing installation (but you will have to stop the
existing server running before doing the installation, then start the
new one after the installation is finished).
<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<STRONG>Important note for 1.3b6 installs</STRONG>: the above only
applies for 1.3b7 and later. In 1.3b6 the installer would overwrite
<SAMP>conf</SAMP>, and will also overwrite your
should copy these files or directories before installing Apache 1.3b6
or install into a new directory.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>
After installing Apache, you should edit the configuration files in
the <SAMP>conf</SAMP> directory as required. These files will be
configured during the install ready for Apache to be run from the
directory where it was installed, with the documents served from the
subdirectory <SAMP>htdocs</SAMP>. There are lots of other options
which should be set before you start really using Apache. However to
get started quickly the files should work as installed.
<H2><A NAME="run">Running Apache for Windows</A></H2>
There are two ways you can run Apache:
<UL>
<LI>As a "service" (available on NT only). This is the best option if
you want Apache to automatically start when you machine boots, and to
keep Apache running when you log-off.
<LI>From a <a ref="#cmdline">console window</a>. This is the only option available for
Windows 95 users.
</UL>
To start Apache as a service, you first need to install it as a
service. Run the "Install Apache as Service" option from the Start
menu. Once this is done you can start Apache by opening the Services
window (in the Control Panel), selecting Apache, then clicking on
Start. Apache will now be running in the background. You can later
stop Apache by clicking on Stop. As an alternative to using the
Services window, you can start and stop Apache from the control line
with
<PRE>
NET START APACHE
NET STOP APACHE
</PRE>
To run Apache from a console window, select the "Apache Server" option
from the Start menu. This will open a console window and start Apache
running inside it. The window will remain active until you stop
Apache. To stop Apache running, press Control-C within the console
window.
<P>
After starting Apache running (either in a console window or as a
service) if will be listening to port 80 (unless you changed the
<SAMP>Port</SAMP>, <SAMP>Listen</SAMP> or <SAMP>BindAddress</SAMP>
directives in the configuration files). To connect to the server and
access the default page, launch a browser and enter this URL:
<PRE>
</PRE>
This should respond with a welcome page, and a link to the Apache
manual. If nothing happens or you get an error, look in the
<SAMP>error_log</SAMP> file in the <SAMP>logs</SAMP> directory.
<P>
Once your basic installation is working, you should configure it
properly by editing the files in the <SAMP>conf</SAMP> directory.
<H2><A NAME="use">Configuring Apache for Windows</A></H2>
Apache is configured by files in the <SAMP>conf</SAMP>
directory. These are the same as files used to configure the Unix
version, but there are a few different directives for Apache on
Windows. See the <A HREF="./">Apache documentation</A> for all the
available directives.
<P>
The main differences in Apache for Windows are:
<UL>
<LI><P>Because Apache for Windows is multithreaded, it does not use a
separate process for each request, as Apache does with
Unix. Instead there are usually only two Apache processes running:
a parent process, and a child which handles the requests. Within
the child each request is handled by a separate thread.
<P>
So the "process"-management directives are different:
<P><A
- Like the Unix directive, this controls how many requests a
process will serve before exiting. However, unlike Unix, a
process serves all the requests at once, not just one, so if
this is set, it is recommended that a very high number is
used. The recommended default, <CODE>MaxRequestsPerChild
0</CODE>, does not cause the process to ever exit.
This directive is new, and tells the server how many threads it
should use. This is the maximum number of connections the server
can handle at once; be sure and set this number high enough for
your site if you get a lot of hits. The recommended default is
<CODE>ThreadsPerChild 50</CODE>.</P>
<LI><P>The directives that accept filenames as arguments now must use
Windows filenames instead of Unix ones. However, because Apache
uses Unix-style names internally, you must use forward slashes, not
backslashes. Drive letters can be used; if omitted, the drive with
the Apache executable will be assumed.</P>
<LI><P>Apache for Windows contains the ability to load modules at runtime,
without recompiling the server. If Apache is compiled normally, it
will install a number of optional modules in the
<CODE>\Apache\modules</CODE> directory. To activate these, or other
directive must be used. For example, to active the status module,
use the following (in addition to the status-activating directives
<PRE>
LoadModule status_module modules/ApacheModuleStatus.dll
</PRE>
modules</A> is also available.</P>
Applications), such as those used by Microsoft's IIS, and other
Windows servers. <A HREF="mod/mod_isapi.html">More information
is available.</A>
</UL>
<H2><A NAME="cmdline">Running Apache for Windows from the Command Line</A></H2>
The Start menu icons and the NT Service manager can provide an simple
interafce for administering Apache. But in some cases it is easier to
work from the command line.
<P>
When working with Apache it is important to know how it will find the
configuration files. Apache will try one of the following, in this order.
<ul>
<li>A ServerRoot directive via a -C switch.
<li>The -f switch on the command line.
<li>The -d switch on the command line.
<li>A registry entry, created if you did a binary install.
<li>The server root compiled into the server.
</ul>
<P>
The server root compiled into the server is usually "/apache".
invoking apache with the -v switch will display this value
labeled as HTTPD_ROOT.
<P>
Your current working directory when Apache is started up has no
effect on Apache's behavior.
<P>
Under windows, when invoked from the start menu or the Service Manager Apache is
usually passed no arguments. So using the registry entry is the perfered
technique.
<P>
During a binary installation, a registry key will have
been installed, for example:
<PRE>
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Apache Group\Apache\1.3.0\ServerRoot
</PRE>
For the 1.3 beta releases the key was:
<PRE>
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Apache Group\Apache\1.3 beta\ServerRoot
</PRE>
<P>
This key is compiled into the server and can enable you to test
new versions without affecting the current version. Of course
you must take care not to install the new version on top of the
old version in the file system. You can not run two invocations
of Apache on Windows simultaneously.
<P>
If you did not do a binary install then Apache will in some
senarios complain that about the missing registry key. This
warning can be ignored if it otherwise was able to find it's
configuration files.
<P>
The value of this key is the "ServerRoot" directory, containing the
<SAMP>conf</SAMP> directory. When Apache starts it will read the
contains a <SAMP>ServerRoot</SAMP> directive which is different from
the directory obtained from the registry key above, Apache will forget
the registry key and use the directory from the configuration file.
If you copy the Apache directory or configuration files to a new
location it is vital that you update the <SAMP>ServerRoot</SAMP>
<P>
To run Apache from the command line as a console application, use the
following command:
<PRE>
apache -s
</PRE>
Apache will execute, and will remain running until it is stopped by pressing
control-C. (The -s option is not required by Windows 95, but on Windows NT it
prevents Apache waiting to see if Apache is running as a service.)
<P>
To install Apache as a Windows NT service as follows:
<PRE>
apache -i
</PRE>
and to remove the Apache service, use
<PRE>
apache -u
</PRE>
<H2><A NAME="signal">Signalling Apache when running</A></H2>
<P>When Apache is running you may request that it reread it's
configuration files as follows:
<PRE>
apache -Z @@whatever?@@>
</PRE>
and to request that it shutdown gracefully, via:
<PRE>
apache -Z @@whatever?@@>
</PRE>
and you can force it to stop via:
<PRE>
apache -Z @@whatever?@@
</PRE>
<P>
Other techinques of shutting down the server (e.g. using the
task manager to "End Process", distroying the command
window containing the server, or using control-C to interupt
it) all have the downside of @@whatever@@.
<H2><A NAME="comp">Compiling Apache for Windows</A></H2>
<P>Compiling Apache requires Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 to be properly
installed. It is easiest to compile with the command-line tools
(nmake, etc...). Consult the VC++ manual to determine how to install
them.</P>
<P>First, unpack the Apache distribution into an appropriate
directory. Open a command-line prompt, and change to the
<CODE>src</CODE> subdirectory of the Apache distribution.</P>
<P>The master Apache makefile instructions are contained in the
the following commands:
<UL>
</UL>
<P>These will both compile Apache. The latter will include debugging
information in the resulting files, making it easier to find bugs and
track down problems.</P>
<P>Apache can also be compiled using VC++'s Visual Studio development
environment. Although compiling Apache in this manner is not as simple,
it makes it possible to easily modify the Apache source, or to compile
Apache if the command-line tools are not installed.</P>
<P>Project files (<CODE>.DSP</CODE>) are included for each of the
portions of Apache. The three projects that are necessary for
subdirectory contains project files for the optional modules (see
below).</P>
<P>Once Apache has been compiled, it needs to be installed in its server
root directory. The default is the <CODE>\Apache</CODE>
directory, on the current hard drive. </P>
<P>To install the files into the <CODE>\Apache</CODE> directory
automatically, use one the following nmake commands (see above):</P>
<UL>
(for release build)
(for debug build)
</UL>
The dir argument to INSTDIR gives the installation directory. The can
be omitted if Apache is to be installed into <SAMP>\Apache</SAMP>.
<P>This will install the following:</P>
<UL>
<LI><CODE><EM>dir</EM>\modules\ApacheModule*.dll</CODE> - Optional Apache
modules (7 files)
<LI><CODE><EM>dir</EM>\conf</CODE> - Empty configuration directory
<LI><CODE><EM>dir</EM>\logs</CODE> - Empty logging directory
</UL>
<P>If you do not have nmake, or wish to install in a different directory,
be sure to use a similar naming scheme.</P>
<P>
Before running the server you must fill out the conf directory.
Copy the *.conf-dist-win from the distribution conf directory
and rename *.conf. Edit the @@ServerRoot@@ entries to your
actual server root (for example "C:\apache"). Copy over
<!--#include virtual="footer.html" -->
</BODY>
</HTML>