Install and Configure Apache Server

 

Install and Configure Apache Server

 

A. Install and Verify Apache Server

1. Install the 

   Web Server

   package group:

# yum groupinstall -y "Web Server"

2. Edit the /etc/hosts file and the ip address and fully qualified domain name of the server:

 

192.168.2.50 server.example.com

3. Optionally, Set the ServerName directive in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file. Activate at boot time and start the service:

#

systemctl enable httpd

#

systemctl start httpd

4. Add the HTTP service to the firewall configuration and reload it:

# firewall-cmd --list-all #

firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http

Success #

firewall-cmd --reload

Success

If you plan to use the HTTPS protocol, the command should be # firewall-cmd –permanent –add-service=https

5. Check which ports this deamon is listening on:

$ ss -nutlp | grep -i http

Here it shows that our web server daemon is listening on port 80 and 443. A further check you can do is this:

# fuser -v -n tcp 80 # fuser -v -n tcp 443

6. Confirm that our client can connect to these ports:

# nc -v 10.0.5.10 80 Ncat: Version 6.40 ( http://nmap.org/ncat ) Ncat: Connected to 10.0.5.10:80. ^C # nc -v 10.0.5.10 443 Ncat: Version 6.40 ( http://nmap.org/ncat ) Ncat: Connected to 10.0.5.10:443. ^C

 

7. Test the Welcome Page. Open the browser and visit http://server.example.com. You will get the welcome page, even if you create an html page in 

   /var/www/html

   . This is due to  

   IncludeOptional conf.d/*.conf

   statement at the end of the

   /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

    file that instructs

   Apache

    to load the files finishing by 

   *.conf

    located in the 

   /etc/httpd/conf.d

   To display the content of the 

   /var/www/html

    directory, you need to go to the 

   /etc/httpd/conf.d

    directory and check the

   welcome.conf

   file.
8. Create /etc/httpd/conf.d/mywebserver.conf file:

 

AllowOverride None

Require all granted

 

9. Install the httpd-manual package.

 

# yum install -y httpd-manual

# elinks /usr/share/httpd/manual/howto/auth.html

[the_ad id="2469"]

B. Configure a Virtual Host.

Let’s assume your website is called 

vhost1.example.com

.

1. Create /var/www/html/vhost1.example.com directory:

#

cd /var/www/html

#

mkdir vhost1.example.com

2. Create an index.html file and assign the correct SELinux context:

#

echo "This is vhost1 test." > vhost1.example.com/index.html

#

restorecon -R vhost1.example.com

3. Create the /etc/httpd/conf.d/vhosts.conf file and paste the following lines:

 

ServerAdmin webmaster@vhost1.example.com

DocumentRoot /var/www/html/vhost1.example.com

ServerName vhost1.example.com

ErrorLog logs/vhost1.example.com-error_log

CustomLog logs/vhost1.example.com-access_log common

 

4. Optionaly, rename the /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf file, otherwise you get an additional non-working https virtual host displayed in the configuration.

#

cd /etc/httpd/conf.d; mv ssl.conf ssl.conf2

5. Check the validity of the configuration:

#

apachectl configtest

Syntax OK

You can also type: # 

httpd -t

 

6. Restart the httpd service:

#

apachectl restart

You can also use # 

systemctl restart httpd.

For minor configuration changes, it is also possible to restart the 

Apache

 daemon without losing the current connections: # 

apachectl graceful

 

7. Check the virtual host(s) configuration:

#

httpd -D DUMP_VHOSTS

VirtualHost configuration: *:80                   is a NameVirtualHost         default server vhost1.example.com (/etc/httpd/conf.d/vhosts.conf:1)         port 80 namevhost vhost1.example.com (/etc/httpd/conf.d/vhosts.conf:1)         port 80 namevhost vhost1.example.com (/etc/httpd/conf.d/vhosts.conf:1)

8. Check the configuration:

#

yum install -y elinks

#

elinks

http://vhost1.example.com

C. Configure Apache access restrictions on directories.

1. Create a private directory,

   private

   , in

   /var/www/html

#

cd /var/www/html

#

mkdir private

#

echo "This is Private Host test." > private/index.html

#

restorecon -R .

2. Host-based private directories: To only allow the test.example.com host (add the name/IP address in the /etc/hosts file if necessary) to access a specific directory (here private), edit the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file and paste the following lines at the end:

AllowOverride None Options None Require host test.example.com

3. Check the configuration file:

# apachectl configtest Syntax OK

4. User-based private directories: To only allow me to access a specific directory (here private), edit the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conffile and paste the following lines at the end:

AuthType Basic AuthName "Password protected area" AuthUserFile /etc/httpd/conf/passwd Require user me

5. Check the configuration file:

# apachectl configtest Syntax OK

6. Create the passwd file and store me‘s password:

# htpasswd -c /etc/httpd/conf/passwd me # chmod 600 /etc/httpd/conf/passwd # chown apache:apache /etc/httpd/conf/passwd

The .htpasswd file can be used locally instead of the httpd.conf file.

7. Whatever the option chosen, restart the httpd service:

# systemctl restart httpd

8. Check the httpd service:

#

yum install -y curl

#

curl -u user:password http://localhost

or

#

yum install -y elinks

#

elinks http://localhost/private