1.2.2 HTTP Server

More commonly known as ``web servers'', HTTP servers are programs that wait for a connection from an HTTP client, interpret the request, and somehow get the reply as an HTML document. Examples include Apache, Information Interchange Server (IIS from Microsoft), and xitami (iMatix spelt backward).

While the choice of an HTTP server is critical to determine the efficiency of a web site, it is relatively insignificant when it comes to CGI scripting. Most HTTP servers can run CGI scripts written in many languages.