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Security is one of the most important factors that Apache administrators need to consider. Determining who is allowed access to what, verifying that people and systems are who they say they are, and eliminating security holes that could allow crackers to gain unauthorized access to a system are all issues that the conscientious web server administrator needs to worry about on a daily basis.

Apache provides many features that can be used to either compromise server security or gather information about a server that the administrator would prefer kept secret. Of course, these features aren't there to create security holes, but the more complex the configuration the more chances we have of creating an unanticipated use of the server. Understanding what is and what is not expected behavior is essential, both when creating the server configuration and detecting possible misuse.

There is no such thing as a totally one hundred percent secure server, but in this book we'll delve into crucial aspects of Apache security and practical ways to setting up a safer, more secure implementation of an Apache server.

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Average Rating: 5.0
Number of Reviews: 1

I didn't find the first two chapters particularly useful, but from the third onwards it was simply enlightening. Reading chapter 3 I finally understood what Cross Site Scripting attacks were, and made clear how important it is to know stuff (HTTP in particular) in if you are serious about security (and about system administration in general).

The chapter about configuring Apache in Jail was great, and so it was the chapter about mod_rewrite . In general, the whole book was fantastic, and explained so much about security and Apache. In general, I didn't think there was so much to know about security and Apache, until reading this book that showed them to me so clearly.

I would have liked more depth in some of the chapters (like "Logging", that is very interesting but probably not detailed enough), but overall this book was a great buy.

A colleague of mine is a very experienced system administrator and said that you would find out about all that stuff slowly, working and looking up stuff quite a lot. I found that this book put my on a different level, closer to a senior system administrator.

Good buy!