A "handler" is an internal Apache representation of the action to be performed when a file is called. Generally, files have implicit handlers, based on the file type. Normally, all files are simply served by the server, but certain file types are "handled" separately.

ServerRoot specifies where the subdirectories conf and logs can be found. If you start Apache with the -f (file) option, you need to include the ServerRoot directive. On the other hand, if you use the -d (directory) option, as we do, this directive is not needed.

The keepalive timeout is a timer that counts down, and is reset every time the web browser asks for a new item. So long as the browser keeps asking for more things, the timeout will not expire, even with a keepalive timout setting of 1 second. However, the default setting for Apache Keepalive Timeout is 15 seconds.

For example, in a default install, Apache httpd resides at /usr/local/apache2 in the Unix filesystem or "c:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2" in the Windows filesystem. (Note that forward slashes should always be used as the path separator in Apache httpd configuration files, even for Windows.)