Helicon Ape is the piece of software by Helicon Tech destined to introduce Apache functionality on IIS web servers. Helicon Ape is realized as an ASP.NET module for IIS 7 (and higher), implementing functionality of more than 35 Apache modules, that allows using Apache configurations (leaving syntax intact) on IIS and extend standard IIS capabilities.
Aside from realization of Apache modules Helicon Ape possesses some proprietary modules for server-side debugging and profiling (mod_developer), SEO optimization (mod_linkfreeze) and hotlinking protection (mod_hotlink).
Helicon Ape has a GUI interface (see the screenshot) that allows easy configs editing (directives auto-completion and spell-check features supported) and browsing, includes a regular expressions tester and a password generation utility.
Here's the list of modules currently supported in Helicon Ape:
mod_asis - sends files that contain their own HTTP headersmod_auth_basic - enables HTTP Basic Authentication functionalitymod_auth_digest - enables MD5 Digest Authentication functionalitymod_authn_anon - configures anonymous users access to authenticated areasmod_authn_dbd - provides authentication based on user look-up in SQL databasemod_authn_default - rejects whatever credentials if no authentication is setmod_authn_file - provides authentication based on user look-up in plain text password filemod_authz_default - rejects any authorization request if no authentication is configuredmod_authz_groupfile - allows or denies access to particular areas of the site depending on user group membershipmod_authz_host - allows access control to particular parts of web server based on hostname, IP address or other characteristics of the client requestmod_authz_user - allows or denies access to portions of the web site for authenticated usersmod_cache - allows caching local or proxied contentmod_core - provides the use Helicon Ape core featuresmod_dbd - allows managing of SQL database connectionsmod_deflate - enables server output compressionmod_developer - brings extensive requests debugging functionalitymod_disk_cache - allows the use of disk-based storage engine for mod_cachemod_env - grants control over the environment provided to CGI scripts and SSI pagesmod_evasive - protects your site(s) from HTTP DoS/DDoS attacks and brute force attacksmod_expires - sets Expires HTTP header and max-age directive of Cache-Control HTTP header in server responses in relation to either the time the source file was last modified, or to the time of the client accessmod_filter - allows the use of context-sensitive content filtersmod_gzip - offers HTTP responses compressionmod_headers - modifies HTTP request and response headersmod_hotlink - protects the content from hotlinkingmod_linkfreeze - changes links on pages to SEO-friendly formatmod_log_config - enables custom loggingmod_logio - logs input and output number of bytes received/sent per requestmod_mem_cache - allows the use memory-based storage engine for mod_cachemod_mime - associates requested filename's extensions with the file's behavior (handlers and filters) and content (mime-type, language, character set and encoding)mod_proxy - grants forward and reverse proxy functionalitymod_replace - allows editing of HTML body, HTTP request and response headersmod_rewrite - rewrites requested URLs on the fly based on regular-expressions-based rules and various conditionsmod_setenvif - sets environment variables depending on whether different parts of the request match specified regular expressionsmod_so - emulates loading modules functionsmod_speling - corrects misspelled URLs by performing case-insensitive checks and allowing one misspellingmod_usertrack - tracks and logs user activity on the site using cookiesHelicon Ape was designed specifically to benefit from all advantages of IIS 7 architecture, so 100% operability is ensured only on IIS 7 and higher (Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2). On IIS6 (Windows Server 2003) Helicon Ape offers slightly limited functionality (see compatibility chart).
There are three license types available for Helicon Ape:
Free - for up to 3 sites; costs nothingPer-site - for one extra site; costs $25Server - for unlimited number of sites; costs $95; includes 45-day Trial period.
