Why NCSA HTTPd?

Here is a list of the server's features. Follow the links to read about them and see demonstrations of their use.

Low impact

Small, for ease of portability and security.

Fast, to handle the load on the ever-expanding WWW.

Compatibility

Designed to support HTTP/1.0 as implemented on the WWW

Can also handle older browsers using HTTP/0.9

Directory indexes

The user can create HTML indexes under a list of names (see the DirectoryIndex directive) or the server can generate an index dynamically (see the Star Trek example)

User directories

Easily allow your users access to the publishing end of the WWW, with enough security to keep them from harming your system.

CGI Server scripts

Customize your server to execute searches and handle HTML forms.

Built-in Imagemap Support

NCSA HTTPd now supports imagemap files using both the NCSA and CERN mapfile format without the need for an external CGI application. See the Imagemap tutorial for more information.

Security

Limit access to your server by directory.

Support for HTTP/1.0 Basic Authentication, MD5 Digest Authentication, and Kerberos versions 4 and 5.

NCSA HTTPd supports Group and Password files using a ASCII flat file, DBM database, or NIS.

NCSA HTTPd also has the ability to restrict access to a certain URL path. See the referer directive.

Server Side Includes

Include the output of commands or other files in your HTML documents.

Virtual Hosts

NCSA HTTPd comes with full support for Virtual Hosting through virtual interfaces. See the Virtual Host tutorial for more information.

If you are interested, here is a version history of past releases.

Return to the overview.

NCSA HTTPd Development Team / httpd@ncsa.uiuc.edu / Last Modified 09-11-95