[10] Apache played a key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web,[11] quickly overtaking NCSA HTTPd as the dominant HTTP server.

[16][17] But it conceded that the name "also makes a cute pun on 'a patchy web server'—a server made from a series of patches".

There are other sources for the "patchy" software pun theory, including the project's official documentation in 1995, which stated: "Apache is a cute name which stuck.

"[18][19] But in an April 2000 interview, Behlendorf asserted that the origins of Apache were not a pun, stating:[20] The name literally came out of the blue.

[23] Apache supports a variety of features, many implemented as compiled modules which extend the core functionality.

These can range from authentication schemes to supporting server-side programming languages such as Perl, Python, Tcl and PHP.

Popular compression methods on Apache include the external extension module, mod_gzip, implemented to help with reduction of the size (weight) of web pages served over HTTP.

Apache features configurable error messages, DBMS-based authentication databases, content negotiation and supports several graphical user interfaces (GUIs).

Because the source code is freely available, anyone can adapt the server for specific needs, and there is a large public library of Apache add-ons.

[clarification needed] For delivering static pages, Apache 2.2 series was considered significantly slower than nginx and varnish.

[42][clarification needed] This architecture as implemented in the Apache 2.4 series performs at least as well as event-based web servers, according to Jim Jagielski and other independent sources.

The project is jointly managed by a group of volunteers located around the world, using the Internet and the Web to communicate, plan, and develop the server and its related documentation.

[67] It creates many sockets and keeps each of them alive and busy by sending several bytes (known as "keep-alive headers") to let the server know that the computer is still connected and not experiencing network problems.