Last updated April 12, 2013. Created by mitchell on September 13, 2012.
Edited by LeeHunter, batigolix, greggles, David_Rothstein. Log in to edit this page.
Drupal works on any web server with PHP support.
Apache (Recommended)
Apache is the most commonly used web server for Drupal. Drupal will work on Apache 2.x hosted on UNIX/Linux, OS X, or Windows.
The majority of Drupal development and deployment is done on Apache, so there is more community experience and testing performed on Apache than on other web servers. Drupal 7 and 6 will likely work on Apache 1.3.
You can use the Apache 'mod_rewrite' extension to allow for clean URLs.
The Apache Virtualhost configuration must contain the directive AllowOverride All to allow Drupal's .htaccess file to be used.
Ngnix
Nginx is a commonly used web server that focuses on high concurrency, performance and low memory usage.
Drupal will work on Nginx legacy versions (0.7.x, 0.8.x, 1.0.x), stable 1.2.x versions, and development 1.3.x versions hosted on UNIX/Linux, OS X, or Windows. Nginx is a popular alternative to Apache, so there is also significant community experience and testing performed on Nginx.
For information on enabling clean URLs, see Clean URLs with NGINX.
Microsoft IIS
Microsoft IIS is a web server and set of feature extension modules for use with Microsoft Windows.
Drupal core will work with IIS 5, IIS 6, or IIS 7 if PHP is configured correctly.
To achieve clean URLs you may need to use a third party product. For IIS 7 you can use the Microsoft URL Rewrite Module or a third party solution.
On IIS 7 Drupal requires Windows 2008 Server SP2 or later for fastCGI support.