The Apache Software Foundation has announced the availability of the first major update of the popular open source HTTP server, Apache 2.4. The latest version is Apache's first major release in six years and its arrival coincides with the software's 17th anniversary.
Apache was developed in 1995 around a fork of a Web server, which was originally developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), states a report from Ars Technica. Today, Apache is said to be the number one HTTP server and is currently used by 400 million websites around the world. It also powers almost 60 per cent of all active domains. 
The new version brings along a number of new features and technical improvements that will help it retain its standing. According to developers, the version 2.4 is more efficient than its predecessor, offers better performance and lower resource consumption as well.
Eric Covener, vice president, Apache Server, said in a statement, "This release delivers a host of evolutionary enhancements throughout the server that our users, administrators, and developers will welcome. We've added many new modules in this release, as well as broadened the capability and flexibility of existing features."
One of the commendable improvements in the latest version is that the multi-processing module system (MPM) has been improved in a such a manner that the desired module can be selected at runtime. Various MPMs implement different behaviours for how the HTTP server spreads its workload across threads and processes, states the report.
In the previous versions of the software, the desired module had to be selected during the configuration step of the build process. Now in the latest version, it is possible to select multiple MPMs during configuration and specify the one that should be used at runtime. This allows for more flexibility in Apache deployments.
Click here to know more about the new features in Apache HTTP Server 2.4.
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