In theory, all web servers should support the basic CGI functionality, which has been around for a long time, but the configuration details will vary between web servers and platforms. In particular, it may be necessary to specifically enabled the ability to execute CGI scripts, as this may not be turned on, or may be limited, by default. See the ExecCGI option on the Options directive in the httpd.conf file for Apache.

As of this writing, the Apache web server is probably the best choice, as it is quite commonly used. Besides popularity, some of the other advantages of Apache are:

•   It works on several platforms, including Linux and Windows

•   It is well documented, both directly by the developers and by third-party book publishers

•   Source code is freely available

•   It is free to download and use