Apache HTTP Server Adds HTTP/2 Support for Speed and Security

Apache HTTP Server, the open source web server that controls around half of the market, has become the latest platform to support HTTP/2, a major security- and efficiency-focused revision of the protocol computers use to download information from the web.

Despite representing a major revamp of one of the technologies at the very core of the modern web, HTTP/2 hasn't made many headlines outside of the technical community. That's because HTTP/2 doesn't change much for developers or end users.

The new protocol primarily affects the way servers and browsers exchange information, but it doesn't impact how websites or applications work. Content that supports the last major revision of the HTTP protocol, HTTP 1.1, works fine with HTTP/2 as well.

The main goal behind HTTP/2 is to make downloads faster by reducing latency and taking better advantage of server pushes when people are browsing the Web.

The protocol also encourages better data security because several of the browsers that implement it, including Firefox and Chrome, require connections to be encrypted via TLS when using HTTP/2. That is not a requirement of the protocol itself, however; when not specified by the browser, HTTP/2 transactions are unencrypted unless the server delivers the content through HTTPS, which is supported by HTTP/2.

Version 2.4.17 of Apache, which was rolled out last week, includes out-of-the-box support for HTTP/2. (Earlier versions of Apache also supported the protocol, but they required special patches.) That's a major endorsement of the new protocol, since Apache consistently leads as the world's most popular Web server, serving around half of the Internet's websites.

Most other Web server platforms have already implemented HTTP/2 support. nginx, another popular open source server whose market share has been steadily growing in recent years, added the feature in September. The Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 iterations of Microsoft IIS also support HTTP/2.