HTTP
HTTP is a very fast and reliable transfer protocol. The default port
for HTTP is 80.
Because HTTP transfers are made in clear text, it is not wise to
use it to transfer passwords if the networks involved in the transfer
are not secure.
IP-less HTTP
It is possible to run several HTTP servers on the same IP address and
port, by identifying the servers through the Host header in the
HTTP protocol. Since IP addresses are becoming a scarce commodity
IP-less virtual servers are becoming increasingly common.
To use IP-less virtual servers you need to configure DNS so that
several different names translate to the same IP address. One of your
virtual servers needs to listen to this IP address. That virtual
server must also contain the IP-less Virtual Hosting
module.
For the other virtual servers you will only need to configure their
Server Variables/Server URL. The IP-less virtual hosting will
use the host header and the virtual servers Server Variables/Server URL to
determine which virtual servers are to handle which request.
The User Filesystem module can also be used to host
several sites with IP-less HTTP. It does this within one virtual
server, which means that all sites share the same modules. This
sharing is very resource inexpensive and makes it possible to give
each user her own domain.
IP-less HTTP does not work for proxy servers. That is, a proxy server
must have its own IP address. A proxy server can however, proxy
requests to web servers that are using IP-less HTTP.
IP-less virtual hosting module
The IP-less virtual hosting module does not need to be configured in
any way. Just add it to a virtual server that is listening to a port,
and it will send requests to other virtual servers.
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