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Posted to dev@httpd.apache.org by Brian Behlendorf <br...@hyperreal.org> on 1997/12/13 02:20:03 UTC
Apache user survey
I'd really like us, the developers, to get a better sense of who's using
Apache, what they're using it for, what they like and don't like about it,
and what the user base thinks would be good in terms of future features and
priorities. Given that as a volunteer project we're a whole lot less
beholden to these types of things than a commercial company; yet several of
us here are reliant upon Apache for commercial reasons, and I think for the
others this would be very useful to have. Trying to gauge this information
from the bugdb and newsgroups is like trying to determine how good a movie
is based on the amount of popcorn on the floor afterwards :)
So, here's some questions I'd like to ask on a survey. It would be set up
as a web form on apache.org, with notice sent to apache-announce and
c.i.w.s.*. We'd collect data for a few weeks and then analyse it, and make
the results public. Feedback on these questions plus additional ones would
be cool. It's certainly very rough and a few questions could use some
additional answers as options. I'd be really happy if we got 1000 responses.
A challenge is to figure out how to motivate folks to answer these
questions. Hmm. Organic might be willing to chip in for some sort of
prize to be raffled off, maybe a free copy of Stronghold?
##################################
(Deployment questions - to figure out how to interpret #'s from Netcraft)
How many different installations of Apache are you responsible for?
(break out #'s amongst OS's: Solaris, Linux, FreeBSD, NT, Irix, HP, etc)
How many of these installations are on multiple-CPU machines?
How many total IP numbers do you have Apache configured to listen on?
_##_ available to the open internet
_##_ available only to internal users behind a firewall
How much raw traffic (measured in hits) per week does your server get?
(1-10K, 10K-100K, 100K-1M, 1M-10M, 10M-100M, 100M+)
Describe your purpose for your web sites: (check all that apply)
(ISP, corporate public web pages, intranet, experimentation,
proxy, personal home page, non-profit organization)
(Use of optional features)
Do you currently use the "suexec" functionality in Apache?
Which non-standard modules do you currently use in your production
web environments?
(include, proxy, rewrite, usertrack, expires, headers, mime_magic,
status, info, speling, unique_id)
Which related packages do you use with Apache? (list major add-ons)
(mod_perl, mod_php, mod_jserv, mod_auth_mysql, mod_ldap, mod_pyapache)
For what strong reasons do you use Apache over other web servers?
Check if you agree with the statement made. (check all that apply)
It serves up pages faster than other servers.
I can configure it to do many different things; it's very flexible.
Its reliability is high.
I have access to the source code.
I like the terms of the Apache license.
It is ported to the platform you use.
It has features other servers don't have.
It has a very wide userbase.
It has many add-on modules.
It is easy to configure.
I think it's less likely to have a significant security hole,
and if there's one it can be quickly fixed with a source
code patch.
I want to support the idea of "free" software.
Which module do you use to build server-side applications? Check
those you use most heavily.
(mod_cgi, mod_include, mod_perl, mod_php, mod_jserv, others?)
Do you use a commercial hybrid of Apache? if so, which ones?
(StrongHold, WebTen, WarPaint, others?)
Do you use Apache with relational or object-oriented databases?
If so, which ones?
(Oracle, Sybase, Informix, msql, mysql, Velocis, ODI, others?)
What third-party tools do you use behind Apache?
(Vignette's StoryServer, Apple's WebObjects, NetObjects, ColdFusion,
iCat, others?)
Do you currently pay a consultant or company to provide commercial
support for Apache?
(what's missing?)
Please indicate to what extent you agree with the following statements.
(five possible positions for each question, ranging from "strongly
agree" to "strongly disagree")
Apache would be more valuable to me if:
* it was as complete on NT as other NT web servers.
* it had better support for server-side Java.
* it had a simpler API.
* it had a standard web-based graphical user interface.
* it had a java-based GUI.
* it had a "native windowing system" GUI.
* it integrated more easily with third-party tools.
* it was multithreaded, so it would be faster.
* it was multithreaded, so I could write multithreaded applications
behind it.
* it was multithreaded, so I could hook it up directly to other
existing multithreaded applications.
* it was multithreaded, so it would use less memory.
* it had a revamped configuration file language.
* its internals were written in C++ instead of C.
* it had better documentation.
* there were more books on Apache.
* there were classes offered on Apache maintenance and programming.
* the bug reporting database was easier to use.
* commercial support was easier to find.
* there was better release packaging.
* others?
If you were in the market for commercial support for Apache, what would
be an appropriate price point for quality service?
On a per-machine, per-month basis: ($1-100, 100-300, 300-500, 500-1000,
1000+)
On a per-incident basis: ($1-50, 50-100, 100-150, 150-200, 200+)
Let me know what you think.
Brian
--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--
"it's a big world, with lots of records to play."-sig brian@hyperreal.org
Re: Apache user survey
Posted by Rodent of Unusual Size <Ke...@Golux.Com>.
Brian Behlendorf wrote:
>
> I'd really like us, the developers, to get a better sense of who's using
> Apache, what they're using it for, what they like and don't like about it,
> and what the user base thinks would be good in terms of future features and
> priorities. Given that as a volunteer project we're a whole lot less
> beholden to these types of things than a commercial company; yet several of
> us here are reliant upon Apache for commercial reasons, and I think for the
> others this would be very useful to have. Trying to gauge this information
> from the bugdb and newsgroups is like trying to determine how good a movie
> is based on the amount of popcorn on the floor afterwards :)
I also would very much like this to happen. I think we need to be
very careful about the phrasing; posing survey questions with unbiased
connotation indices is a science - or at least an art.
We might want to consider breaking it into two pieces: point-of-sale
(so to speak) and after-market customer satisfaction. "Why did you
choose Apache?" and "Are you happy you chose Apache?" respectively.
Maybe a link on the "you did it!" page to the POS survey? (Unfortunately,
that would result in forty-eleven people from *other* sites speaking
their minds because of the age-old "I want X and the site says it's Apache!"
problem..)
I definitely think we want to actively solicit suggestions for enhancements
and improvements. They should go through a self-aware filter of some
sort (maybe the thing that's running the phantom 1.3b4-dev server I've
detected on Mars from time to time ;-) and then get entered in the bugdb
as change-requests.
#ken P-)}
Re: Apache user survey
Posted by Ben Laurie <be...@algroup.co.uk>.
Lars Eilebrecht wrote:
>
> According to Brian Behlendorf:
>
> > A challenge is to figure out how to motivate folks to answer these
> > questions. Hmm. Organic might be willing to chip in for some sort of
> > prize to be raffled off, maybe a free copy of Stronghold?
>
> How about some Apache t-shirts? This reminds me of the discussion we
> had some month ago about Apache t-shirts...
Arrrg. I really will get this finished one day. Currently the business
of, err, doing business keeps getting in the way...
Cheers,
Ben.
--
Ben Laurie |Phone: +44 (181) 735 0686|Apache Group member
Freelance Consultant |Fax: +44 (181) 735 0689|http://www.apache.org
and Technical Director|Email: ben@algroup.co.uk |Apache-SSL author
A.L. Digital Ltd, |http://www.algroup.co.uk/Apache-SSL
London, England. |"Apache: TDG" http://www.ora.com/catalog/apache
RE: Apache user survey
Posted by Lars Eilebrecht <La...@unix-ag.org>.
According to Brian Behlendorf:
> A challenge is to figure out how to motivate folks to answer these
> questions. Hmm. Organic might be willing to chip in for some sort of
> prize to be raffled off, maybe a free copy of Stronghold?
How about some Apache t-shirts? This reminds me of the discussion we
had some month ago about Apache t-shirts...
But here are some thoughs on additional questions:
[...]
> Do you currently use the "suexec" functionality in Apache?
If not, do you use any other cgi wrapper?
> Which non-standard modules do you currently use in your production
> web environments?
> (include, proxy, rewrite, usertrack, expires, headers, mime_magic,
> status, info, speling, unique_id)
[include is activated by default, and dld, cern_meta, digest and auth_* is
missing in the list]
Are there any standard modules you DON'T use?
(env, log_config, mime, negotiation, include, autoindex, dir, cgi, asis, imap
actions, userdir, alias, access, auth, setenvif/browser)
Do you use any self-made modules or patches?
(Category: URL manipulation, authentication, server-side scripting,
content handling)
> Which related packages do you use with Apache? (list major add-ons)
> (mod_perl, mod_php, mod_jserv, mod_auth_mysql, mod_ldap, mod_pyapache)
[How about an extra text field here so people can add 'other' modules?]
> For what strong reasons do you use Apache over other web servers?
> Check if you agree with the statement made. (check all that apply)
> It serves up pages faster than other servers.
> I can configure it to do many different things; it's very flexible.
> Its reliability is high.
> I have access to the source code.
> I like the terms of the Apache license.
> It is ported to the platform you use.
> It has features other servers don't have.
> It has a very wide userbase.
> It has many add-on modules.
> It is easy to configure.
> I think it's less likely to have a significant security hole,
> and if there's one it can be quickly fixed with a source
> code patch.
> I want to support the idea of "free" software.
It was bundled with my operating system.
---------------------
Is Apache the first server software you are using or have you
upgraded from an other server?
If yes, what server was it? (Netscape, Microsoft, Sun, CERN, NCSA, other)
---------------------
ciao...
--
Lars Eilebrecht - It's been Monday all week.
sfx@unix-ag.org
http://www.si.unix-ag.org/~sfx/