Apache is undoubtedly the best server serving the Internet. With more than 40 percent market share in the "Web server" arena, it stands out to be the most preferred server. Years of coding have yielded ripe fruits in the form of simple configuration files along with its small 2.5 MB size. And with more and more people embracing Linux the server's popularity is increasing.

The prime deterrent for adopting Linux is its perceived reputation of it being the OS for Geeks. Also it is a fact that the core functionality of Linux lies in the shell command and scripting and most people suffer from what is known as "shell-o-phobia." But all this is slowing changing and with many people considering Linux as their OS, GUI-based tools are being showered off on the Web. The latest addition to it, is COMANCHE, a graphical based tool for configuring Apache.

What's in a name?

COMANCHE stands for COnfiguration MANager for apaCHE. Being developed by Covalent Technologies, the latest version 3.0b offers a lot of features, all available via the click of mouse. Literally speaking, Comanche has two different dictionary meanings:

1.   A member of an American Indian people ranging from Wyoming and Nebraska south into New Mexico and northwestern Texas

2.   The Uto-Aztecan language of the Comanche people

Installation and configuration

Comanche can be downloaded from the developers site at www.covalent.net/projects/comanche/. Since it is available for platforms ranging from HP-Solaris to UNIX to Windows, download the file that matches your OS. In this case, we have downloaded "comanche3.0b4-x86-linux-glibc2.tar.gz" for Linux. After downloading the file, execute the following commands on your shell:

# mkdir /comanche/    --   'makes a directory with the name /comanche

# cp /filename/ /comanche    --  'copies the file into the newly created /comanche directory

# tar -zxvf filename    --  'untars the comanche file

The setup will create a separate directory with the name "comanche3-0b4" in the /comanche directory. Change to the newly created directory.

At the shell prompt type:

# ./comanche3.0b4

This will invoke the GUI based Comanche tool. To start your GUI based setup, press the command box named "Comanche'. Though Comanche is a separate configuration tool, the developers prefer calling it a "plug-in" and we shall therefore stick to the same acronym.