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Posted to dev@httpd.apache.org by Mark J Cox <ma...@awe.com> on 1999/09/16 17:01:44 UTC
September 1999 Netcraft Web Server Survey
The September 1999 Netcraft Web Server Survey is out;
- Top placed developers with numbers of hosts responding and percentage share -
Developer September 1999 Percent Change
Apache 4078326 55.33 -0.17
Microsoft 1632440 22.15 0.15
Netscape 557498 7.56 0.05
- Top placed servers with numbers of hosts responding and percentage share -
Server September 1999 Percent Change
Apache 4078326 55.33 -0.17
Microsoft-IIS 1627651 22.08 0.15
Netscape-Enterprise 457716 6.21 0.10
CnG 183276 2.49 0.06
Rapidsite 134622 1.83 0.12
thttpd 123487 1.68 0.03
Zeus 92974 1.26 -0.02
WebSitePro 90169 1.22 -0.05
Stronghold 78340 1.06 -0.11
WebSTAR 63595 0.86 -0.02
Around the Web
This month's web server share figures are little changed on last
month, with all of the 10 leading servers changing by less than 0.2%,
on growth of around 300,000 sites (4.1%) over last month.
This gives us an opportunity to take the lid off some of Netcraft's
commercial Internet research. One of the comments sometimes made of
the Web Server Survey is that it is unweighted and that small,
infrequently accessed sites hosted on shared computers count as much
as commercially important sites.
Some time ago ZDNet published an [1]article arguing that our [2]SSL
Survey was a better indicator for server technology use at commercial
sites on the web, as each site in the SSL survey has gone to the
trouble of setting up an SSL Server and buying a third party
certificate from a well known Certificate Authority such as [3]Thawte
or [4]Verisign.
August 1999 Internet third party certified SSL Server Share
Microsoft 36%
Apache 25%
c2.net 13%
Netscape 13%
It is interesting to compare the two surveys. Taking third-party certified
sites worldwide, server share amongst the major server manufacturers is
indeed very different. c2.net's Stronghold, Netscape and Microsoft all fare
considerably better in the SSL Server Survey. Reasons for this are partly
historical, partly technical, partly cultural and partly legal.
As the original developers of SSL, Netscape held an implicit advantage in
the early days, and started with the whole of the SSL universe. By making
SSL non-proprietary and creating a Web standard, Netscape allowed SSL to
thrive, but at the cost of, over time, allowing other web server suppliers
to take substantial chunks of the secure server marketplace.
Microsoft entered the market late, but established itself quite quickly,
notably aided by Microsoft SiteServer Commerce Edition which has established
itself as a very popular component of ecommerce systems.
Apache, by far the most popular server in the Web Server Survey, had a slow
start as a vehicle for encrypted transactions on the internet and was
hampered by two major factors.
* legal issues in the USA, where the commercial use of the
underlying encryption algorithms in SSL without a licence violates
RSA Data Security patents, meant that most users of Apache as an
SSL server in that country risked patent litigation from RSA.
c2.net, and subsequently Red Hat, have capitalised on this by
releasing Apache based servers for which RSA licences have been
obtained.
* Verisign, the dominant internet Certificate Authority, refused to
issue certificates to sites using the Apache server until May
1998, as they felt uneasy about issuing certificates to sites
using source code products. Use of Apache for SSL has noticeably
increased since this decision was reversed.
Nonetheless, a major difference between the results of the two surveys is
that the great majority of conventional web sites are controlled by hosting
companies, where the decisions of relatively small number of people with
similar requirements and objectives control the server technology used by
millions of sites. SSL sites are typically controlled directly by their
owners, with more varied requirements and expertise levels, and so the
technology topology for encrypted transactions is more diverse.
Server Switching; US Army moves to a Mac ...
Over the last week, [5]www.army.mil has been the most frequently queried
site on our server query [6]form. The reason has been the highly publicised
decision by the US Army, made plain on the [7]front page of their site, to
ditch NT in favour of "a more secure platform", in the light of a successful
attack on the site earlier in the year. Some have claimed this as a major
propaganda coup for Apple, while others have pointed out that Apple itself
prefers to run [8]www.apple.com on a Solaris/Netscape-Enterprise platform,
and that NT is still the overwhelmingly most common platform amongst the
[9]army.mil public web sites.
... and The Queen runs Red Hat
Another switch, surprisingly not yet picked up by the popular media, has
been at the [10]British Royal Family's site which switched from Solaris to
Red Hat Linux around September 6th. It would be a very neat branding
achievement for Red Hat, and the Linux community generally, if they were
able to add the "By Royal Appointment" endorsement to their operating
system.
References
1. http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,402117-2,00.html
2. http://www.netcraft.com/ssl/
3. http://www.thawte.com/
4. http://www.verisign.com/
5. http://www.netcraft.com/whats/?host=www.army.mil
6. http://www.netcraft.com/whats/
7. http://www.army.mil/
8. http://www.netcraft.com/whats/?host=www.apple.com
9. http://www.netcraft.com/?restriction=site+contains&host=army.mil&position=limited
10. http://www.netcraft.com/whats/?host=www.royal.gov.uk
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SSL Server Survey - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A commercial SSL server survey is also available from Netcraft,
price pounds 1200 for a monthly updated analysis reflecting the
topology of encrypted transactions electronic commerce on the internet.
Details and sample pageset available at http://www.netcraft.com/ssl/
- - - - - - - - Commercial Internet Research from Netcraft - - - - - - - - -
Netcraft also does commercial internet research projects. These include
custom cuts on the Web Server Survey data, virtual hosting industry analysis,
corporate use of internet technology and bespoke projects. All of the data
is gathered through network exploration, not teleresearch.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - this list - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Mike
--
Mike Prettejohn
mhp@@netcraft.com Phone +44 1225 447500 Fax +44 1225 448600
Netcraft Rockfield House Granville Road Bath BA1 9BQ England
Re: September 1999 Netcraft Web Server Survey
Posted by Ben Laurie <be...@algroup.co.uk>.
Mark J Cox wrote:
> ... and The Queen runs Red Hat
>
> Another switch, surprisingly not yet picked up by the popular media, has
> been at the [10]British Royal Family's site which switched from Solaris to
> Red Hat Linux around September 6th. It would be a very neat branding
> achievement for Red Hat, and the Linux community generally, if they were
> able to add the "By Royal Appointment" endorsement to their operating
> system.
Ho hum. But Apache will get it two years earlier :-) (and for those who
missed it the last two times around, no, neither we nor Red Hat will get
it any time soon).
Cheers,
Ben.
--
http://www.apache-ssl.org/ben.html
"My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those
who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the
first group; there was less competition there."
- Indira Gandhi