High performance. Moving .htaccess directives to virtual host configuration

Thanks for your feedback. Forget clarify that the above instructions are designed to Drupal 6 (D6). Deruitern proposed solution is short and works properly when working with Apache MPM Fork mode instead of Worker mode + mod_fastcgi, which is our case, since it avoids the endless rewriting of requests previously handled by mod_fastcgi script (php5-fastcgi.fcgi). To Drupal 7 (D7) these are the instructions.

Then, Apache's directives from .htaccess file:

#
# Apache/PHP/Drupal settings:
#

# Protect files and directories from prying eyes.
<FilesMatch "\.(engine|inc|info|install|make|module|profile|test|po|sh|.*sql|theme|tpl(\.php)?|xtmpl)$|^(\..*|Entries.*|Repository|Root|Tag|Template)$">
  Order allow,deny
</FilesMatch>

# Don't show directory listings for URLs which map to a directory.
Options -Indexes

# Follow symbolic links in this directory.
Options +FollowSymLinks

# Make Drupal handle any 404 errors.
ErrorDocument 404 /index.php

# Set the default handler.
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.htm

# Override PHP settings that cannot be changed at runtime. See
# sites/default/default.settings.php and drupal_environment_initialize() in
# includes/bootstrap.inc for settings that can be changed at runtime.

# PHP 5, Apache 1 and 2.
<IfModule mod_php5.c>
  php_flag magic_quotes_gpc                 off
  php_flag magic_quotes_sybase              off
  php_flag register_globals                 off
  php_flag session.auto_start               off
  php_value mbstring.http_input             pass
  php_value mbstring.http_output            pass
  php_flag mbstring.encoding_translation    off
</IfModule>

# Requires mod_expires to be enabled.
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
  # Enable expirations.
  ExpiresActive On

  # Cache all files for 2 weeks after access (A).
  ExpiresDefault A1209600

  <FilesMatch \.php$>
    # Do not allow PHP scripts to be cached unless they explicitly send cache
    # headers themselves. Otherwise all scripts would have to overwrite the
    # headers set by mod_expires if they want another caching behavior. This may
    # fail if an error occurs early in the bootstrap process, and it may cause
    # problems if a non-Drupal PHP file is installed in a subdirectory.
    ExpiresActive Off
  </FilesMatch>
</IfModule>

# Various rewrite rules.
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  RewriteEngine on

  # Block access to "hidden" directories whose names begin with a period. This
  # includes directories used by version control systems such as Subversion or
  # Git to store control files. Files whose names begin with a period, as well
  # as the control files used by CVS, are protected by the FilesMatch directive
  # above.
  #
  # NOTE: This only works when mod_rewrite is loaded. Without mod_rewrite, it is
  # not possible to block access to entire directories from .htaccess, because
  # <DirectoryMatch> is not allowed here.
  #
  # If you do not have mod_rewrite installed, you should remove these
  # directories from your webroot or otherwise protect them from being
  # downloaded.
  RewriteRule "(^|/)\." - [F]

  # If your site can be accessed both with and without the 'www.' prefix, you
  # can use one of the following settings to redirect users to your preferred
  # URL, either WITH or WITHOUT the 'www.' prefix. Choose ONLY one option:
  #
  # To redirect all users to access the site WITH the 'www.' prefix,
  # (http://example.com/... will be redirected to http://www.example.com/...)
  # uncomment the following:
  # RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
  # RewriteRule ^ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
  #
  # To redirect all users to access the site WITHOUT the 'www.' prefix,
  # (http://www.example.com/... will be redirected to http://example.com/...)
  # uncomment the following:
  # RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.+)$ [NC]
  # RewriteRule ^ http://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

  # Modify the RewriteBase if you are using Drupal in a subdirectory or in a
  # VirtualDocumentRoot and the rewrite rules are not working properly.
  # For example if your site is at http://example.com/drupal uncomment and
  # modify the following line:
  # RewriteBase /drupal
  #
  # If your site is running in a VirtualDocumentRoot at http://example.com/,
  # uncomment the following line:
  RewriteBase /

  # Pass all requests not referring directly to files in the filesystem to
  # index.php. Clean URLs are handled in drupal_environment_initialize().
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !=/favicon.ico
  RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]

  # Rules to correctly serve gzip compressed CSS and JS files.
  # Requires both mod_rewrite and mod_headers to be enabled.
  <IfModule mod_headers.c>
    # Serve gzip compressed CSS files if they exist and the client accepts gzip.
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-encoding} gzip
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.gz -s
    RewriteRule ^(.*)\.css $1\.css\.gz [QSA]

    # Serve gzip compressed JS files if they exist and the client accepts gzip.
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-encoding} gzip
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.gz -s
    RewriteRule ^(.*)\.js $1\.js\.gz [QSA]

    # Serve correct content types, and prevent mod_deflate double gzip.
    RewriteRule \.css\.gz$ - [T=text/css,E=no-gzip:1]
    RewriteRule \.js\.gz$ - [T=text/javascript,E=no-gzip:1]

    <FilesMatch "(\.js\.gz|\.css\.gz)$">
      # Serve correct encoding type.
      Header set Content-Encoding gzip
      # Force proxies to cache gzipped & non-gzipped css/js files separately.
      Header append Vary Accept-Encoding
    </FilesMatch>
  </IfModule>
</IfModule>

can be moved into virtual host file of web application so:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName myownserver.mycompany.com
    ServerAdmin myemail@mycompany.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/myownserver.mycompany.com
    ErrorLog logs/myownserver.mycompany.com-error_log
    CustomLog logs/myownserver.mycompany.com-access_log common
    LogLevel warn
    <IfModule mod_fastcgi.c>
        ScriptAlias /fcgi-bin/ /var/www/html/myownserver.mycompany.com/fcgi-bin/
        AddHandler php5-fastcgi .php .php5 .php4 .html .htm
        Action php5-fastcgi /fcgi-bin/php5-fastcgi.fcgi
    </IfModule>
    <Directory ~ "^/var/www/html/myownserver.mycompany.com">
#Directives moved from file. Htaccess.
#Set the default handler
        DirectoryIndex index.php
#Directives moved from file. Htaccess.
#Don't show directory listings for URLs which map to a directory.
        Options -Indexes
#Directives moved from file. Htaccess.
#Follow symbolic links in this directory.
        Options +FollowSymLinks
        Options +ExecCGI

#The following directive must be set to None for the DocumentRoot directory of the web application as well as for the /var/www/html directory in the configuration file httpd.conf Apache Web Server.
        AllowOverride None
        Order deny,allow
        Deny from all
	Allow from all

#Directives moved from file. Htaccess.
# Protect files and directories from prying eyes. 
        <FilesMatch "\.(engine|inc|info|install|make|module|profile|test|po|sh|.*sql|theme|tpl(\.php)?|xtmpl)$|^(\..*|Entries.*|Repository|Root|Tag|Template)$">
            Order allow,deny
        </FilesMatch>

#Directives moved from file. Htaccess.
#This directives can be commented out because i know that my web server works with mod_fastcgi instead of mod_php. Just make sure that these directivas are set in your php.ini (/etc/php.ini)
#       <IfModule mod_php5.c>
#	    php_flag magic_quotes_gpc                 off
#	    php_flag magic_quotes_sybase              off
#	    php_flag register_globals                 off
#	    php_flag session.auto_start               off
#	    php_value mbstring.http_input             pass
#	    php_value mbstring.http_output            pass
#	    php_flag mbstring.encoding_translation    off
#	</IfModule>

#Directives moved from file. Htaccess.
#Requires mod_expires to be enabled.
	<IfModule mod_expires.c>
#Enable expirations.
	    ExpiresActive On
#Cache all files for 2 weeks after access (A).
            ExpiresDefault A1209600

# Do not allow PHP scripts to be cached unless they explicitly send cache
# headers themselves. Otherwise all scripts would have to overwrite the
# headers set by mod_expires if they want another caching behavior. This may
# fail if an error occurs early in the bootstrap process, and it may cause
# problems if a non-Drupal PHP file is installed in a subdirectory.
	    <FilesMatch \.php$>
	        ExpiresActive Off
	    </FilesMatch>
	</IfModule>
    </Directory>

#Directives moved from file. Htaccess.
#Make Drupal handle any 404 errors.
    ErrorDocument 404 /index.php

#Directives moved from file. Htaccess.
# Various rewrite rules.
    <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
        RewriteEngine on

# Block access to "hidden" directories whose names begin with a period. This
# includes directories used by version control systems such as Subversion or
# Git to store control files. Files whose names begin with a period, as well
# as the control files used by CVS, are protected by the FilesMatch directive
# above.
#
# NOTE: This only works when mod_rewrite is loaded. Without mod_rewrite, it is
# not possible to block access to entire directories from .htaccess, because
# <DirectoryMatch> is not allowed here.
#
# If you do not have mod_rewrite installed, you should remove these
# directories from your webroot or otherwise protect them from being
# downloaded.
        RewriteRule "(^|/)\." - [F]

# If your site can be accessed both with and without the 'www.' prefix, you
# can use one of the following settings to redirect users to your preferred
# URL, either WITH or WITHOUT the 'www.' prefix. Choose ONLY one option:
#
# To redirect all users to access the site WITH the 'www.' prefix,
# (http://example.com/... will be redirected to http://www.example.com/...)
# uncomment the following:
#       RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
#       RewriteRule ^ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
#
# To redirect all users to access the site WITHOUT the 'www.' prefix,
# (http://www.example.com/... will be redirected to http://example.com/...)
# uncomment the following:
#        RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.+)$ [NC]
#        RewriteRule ^ http://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

# Modify the RewriteBase if you are using Drupal in a subdirectory or in a
# VirtualDocumentRoot and the rewrite rules are not working properly.
# For example if your site is at http://example.com/drupal uncomment and
# modify the following line:
#       RewriteBase /drupal
#
# If your site is running in a VirtualDocumentRoot at http://example.com/,
# uncomment the following line:
#       RewriteBase /

# Pass all requests not referring directly to files in the filesystem to
# index.php. Clean URLs are handled in drupal_environment_initialize().
        RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
        RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
        RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !=/favicon.ico
        RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !^/fcgi-bin/php5-fastcgi.fcgi                            
        RewriteRule ^ /index.php [PT,L]

# Rules to correctly serve gzip compressed CSS and JS files.
# Requires both mod_rewrite and mod_headers to be enabled.
        <IfModule mod_headers.c>
# Serve gzip compressed CSS files if they exist and the client accepts gzip.
            RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-encoding} gzip
            RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.gz -s
            RewriteRule ^(.*)\.css /$1\.css\.gz [QSA]

# Serve gzip compressed JS files if they exist and the client accepts gzip.
            RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-encoding} gzip
            RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.gz -s
            RewriteRule ^(.*)\.js /$1\.js\.gz [QSA]

# Serve correct content types, and prevent mod_deflate double gzip.
            RewriteRule \.css\.gz$ - [T=text/css,E=no-gzip:1]
            RewriteRule \.js\.gz$ - [T=text/javascript,E=no-gzip:1]

            <FilesMatch "(\.js\.gz|\.css\.gz)$">
# Serve correct encoding type.
                Header set Content-Encoding gzip
# Force proxies to cache gzipped & non-gzipped css/js files separately.
                Header append Vary Accept-Encoding
            </FilesMatch>
        </IfModule>
    </IfModule>
</VirtualHost>

Again I hope that this information is helpful to anyone.