Three server-wide choices come before any .htaccess file: how Apache 129 speaks TLS, how it hands .php files to PHP, and which multi-processing module (MPM) turns connections into work. They are linked: mod_php forces mpm_prefork, prefork refuses HTTP/2, and PHP-FPM unlocks mpm_event and HTTP/2. Results are from Apache 2.4.66 and PHP 8.5.4 on Ubuntu 26.04 225 ; Certbot 1,690 is Let's Encrypt, FPM pool tuning FPM Pools.