Configuring and Managing MPE/iX Internet Services (July 2001)

156 Chapter9
Apache for MPE/iX
Introduction
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 to translate a URL into a program name, run that program,
and then send its output back.
Once the HTTPD executable is started, 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.