VMware Labs has unveiled an extension module for Apache’s common net server that runs WebAssembly binaries, opening new potentialities for languages and initiatives to run securely in Apache.
The mod_wasm extension module permits the Apache HTTP Server to answer to HTTP requests with purposes compiled to WebAssembly. Internally, mod_wasm makes use of the Wasmtime safe runtime to configure and run Wasm modules.
When an Apache HTTP Server is run with mod_wasm enabled, the Wasm module is preloaded into reminiscence as a part of a course of to hurry up request dealing with by not loading the Wasm module from scratch each time a request is acquired.
Unveiled on GitHub earlier this month, mod-wasm consists of two libraries:
- mod_wasm.so, which gives an interface between the Apache C API and Rust library to handle the Wasm runtime. This library is chargeable for Apache configuration choices and the bindings to attach the Rust library with Apache.
- libwasm._runtime.so, which receives HTTP requests from Apache, configuring and operating the Wasm module. It additionally parses the response and returns management to mod_wasm.so.
WebAssembly, or Wasm, is a binary instruction format and stack-based digital machine that gives excessive efficiency for net purposes. It was designed as a transportable compilation goal for programming languages together with C, C++, and Rust.
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