1) Since you said you're using Godaddy, I'll refer you to their answer - http://help.godaddy.com/topic/72/article/3352 Note that most of what they say there will transfer to other Apache hosts. 2) Start with the actual Apache manual. This page explains the terms used in Directive pages - http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/directive-dict.html This page will give you a list of common Modules - http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/ This page will give you a list of Directives provided by modules - http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/directives.html This page is a quick reference of Directives, their basic function, their default value, their available context, and whether they're from a module, part of the core, etc - http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/quickreference.html