Chapter 7, "SSL," tackles the issues of making your web server capable of handling secure transactions with SSL capable browsers by encrypting traffic between server and client. This is a must if you are going to be handling sensitive data such as money. Here you will learn how to install and work with SSL. Chapter 8, "Dynamic Content," shows you how to enhance your server with runtime scripts and server responses to a particular user. Here there are 21 recipes that deal with CGI and PGP to make your content dynamic.

Chapter 9, "Error Handling," explores how to customize the web server's error messages to give them a unique feel and handled gracefully. In this chapter you will learn how to handle errors, return useful messages, and record information that will allow you to fix the problem so that it doesn’t happen again. Chapter 10, "Proxies," examines what it will take to configure your server to act as a proxy between users and Web Pages while making the process as transparent and seamless as possible. Since proxy means to act on behalf of another, in this setting one web server gets information for another web server.

Chapter 11, "Performance," will show you how to handle the bottlenecks of your server and in general, improve the overall functioning of your server. Sometimes this requires tradeoffs and by spending a little time benchmarking, you can find out what is really slowing traffic down. These 15 recipes will help you do just that. Chapter 12, "Directory Listings," describes how to customize the modules for displaying a directory listing as a web page. There are 20 recipes that will help you present that information just right. Chapter 13, "Miscellaneous Topics," are topics that don't really fit the other categories. Many of these are fundamental issues and so are not tied to a specific topic.

This latest version of the Apache Cookbook is well written and well thought-out. It contains broad coverage of what most administrators and webmasters will cover during installation and maintenance of an Apache web server.

Apache Cookbook is not a book that you want to try to learn Apache with, but rather it is a book that you want around while trying to learn Apache. It will show how to get through some of those gotchas that you will inevitably encounter. While I think that there are a few tricks that would help a more advanced user, the Apache Cookbook is best suited to the novice and intermediate Apache administrator. All in all I found this to be a book easy to recommend.