Apache

Compile-time options

Syntax

• ./configure [option]*

• --prefix=<path>  (where to install Apache)
• --enable-<module>[=shared]  (add [DSO] module)
  
• --disable-<module>
  
• --with-port=<port>  (the port number to listen to) (used for generating the httpd.conf file)

Examples

• --enable-module-name  (add "mod_module_name")
• --disable-module-name  (disable "mod_module_name")
• --enable-module-name=shared  (add "mod_module_name" as a DSO module that can be loaded or unloaded at runtime)

Modules

• mod_cgi: CGI scripts (default: enabled)
• mod_include: Server side includes
• mod_so: DSO modules
• mod_speling: Correcting common URL mispellings
• mod_ssl: SSL/TSL (Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security) via OpenSSL
• mod_unique_id: Provides an environment variable--UNIQUE_ID--with a unique identifier for each request
  
• mod_usertrack: User tracking (formerly mod_cookies)

Identifying modules

• <?php phpinfo(); ?>   (list currently loaded modules)
• <apache>/bin/apachectl -l   (list static compiled modules)

Running apache (requires root access)

• <path>/bin/apachectl [start, stop, restart]

Configuration files

• /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

• ServerAdmin admin@your-domain.com
• DefaultType [text/plain, application/octet-stream]
• DefaultLanguage en
• AddDefaultCharset ISO-8859-1

• DocumentRoot "/var/www/html"

• <Directory /> ... </Directory>    # Default directory options

• <Directory "/var/www/html"> ... </Directory>    # html directory options
• <Directory "/var/www/cgi-bin"> ... </Directory>    # cgi-bin directory options
• <Directory "/var/www/icons"> ... </Directory>    # icons directory options
• <Directory "/var/www/manual"> ... </Directory>    # manual directory options
• <Directory "/var/www/error"> ... </Directory>    # error directory options

• ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/var/www/cgi-bin/"
• Alias /icons/ "/var/www/icons/"
• Alias /manual "/var/www/manual"
• Alias /error/ "/var/www/error/"

• If a different location is used for one of the above directories, the location needs to be changed in the following places:

• The <Directory ...> tag
• The DocumentRoot, ScriptAlias, or Alias value

Running CGI scripts

• Set the permission for the script files to allow execution.

Supporting server side includes (SSI)

• AddType text/html .shtml
• AddOutputFilter INCLUDES .shtml

• For the relevant html directories add "Includes" to the "Options" directive

Examples

<Directory "/var/www/html">
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes
</Directory>

Enabling mod_speling

• CheckSpelling [on, off]  (default: off)
  

Enabling PHP

• LoadModule php5_module        modules/libphp5.so    # Avoid redundant copies of this line.
• DirectoryIndex index.html index.php    # Add index.php  to the DirectoryIndex.

• AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
• AddType application/x-httpd-php-source phps    # Syntax highlighting for PHP source-code.

Running Apache behind a firewall

• Often ISPs will block port 80, the default port for http;  as a work-around for this, Apache can be set to listen to a different port number for http (in this example, port 8080)

• Listen 8080

• Firewalls often won't allow access to another local computer via an external IP address; due to NAT (Network Address translation), IP masquerading.
• With virtual hosting, a web site hosted on the local network can be accessed either by the internal IP address or by the external IP address.

Examples

NameVirtualHost 192.168.1.100   # Internal IP address
NameVirtualHost 11.22.33.44       # External IP address

<VirtualHost 192.168.1.100 11.22.33.44>
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html
    ServerName www.my-domain.com
    ServerAlias my-server
</VirtualHost>