====== Apache2 ======

===== Basics =====

Apache is the most widely used HTTP server on Linux systems and serves web pages that have been requested by clients using the HTTP protocol. The Apache server is modular meaning the core of the server only provides the basic functions of a HTTP server. A number of modules are available to extend functionality and allow interaction with database engines and scripting languages such as; MySQL, PHP, Python and Perl.

===== Installation =====

Apache2 packages are available for most major distributions and can be installed using your distributions package manager.

apt-get (Debian based):

  sudo apt-get install apache2

yum (Red Hat Based):

  yum install httpd

If you have a distribution other than the ones covered please check their documentation on how to install packages. If your distribution does not provide a package you can find the source at http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi

===== Configuration =====

__Debian / Ubuntu__

NOTE: Some of these commands may require that you proceed them with a 'sudo'. If you are having trouble with one of the commands, please simply add a 'sudo' to the start of it ('cd /var/www' becomes 'sudo cd /var/www').

Your main directory for configuration is going to be "/etc/apache2".

Open up a terminal and enter:

''cd /etc/apache2/sites-avaliable''

In this directory you should see a file called "default" or "example.com". We want to copy this file to your server name. So, run the following in a terminal:

''cp default server.com''

Where "server.com" is the name of your server.

Now open up this new file using:

''nano server.com''

And make the following changes:

        ServerAdmin my@email.com
        ServerName server.com
        ServerAlias www.server.com
        DocumentRoot /var/www/server.com

Obviously, where "server.com" and "my@email.com" is you would put your server and personal email address. The "ServerAdmin" line is on line 2. You will probably have to add the "ServerName" and "ServerAlias" lines right after "ServerAdmin". The "DocumentRoot" line is line 3.

After you have finished making the changes look at the other lines and see everything looks alright. Save this file.

We now need to make a symbolic link between this file and a file in "sites-enabled". That way anything that is in /etc/apache2/sites-avaliable/server.com" is also in "/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/server.com". In your terminal enter the following:

''cd /etc/apache2/sites-enabled
ln -s /etc/apache2/sites-available/myexample.com''

Your main directory for the HTML files is going to be "/var/www". We just need to create a directory here for your server. In your terminal run:

''mkdir /var/www/server.com''

Again, where server.com is you should put your server.

Change directory to this and make a index.html file. 

''cd /var/www/server.com
nano index.html''

In the index.html just enter something like "test" and save. This directory ("/var/www/server.com") is where you will be placing all your HTML files once apache2 is set up.

Lastly, restart the apache2 server by entering:

''/etc/init.d/apache2 restart''

Go to www.server.com in your web browser and make sure you see the test "index.html" file you made.

==== Virtual Hosts ====



===== Modules ===== 

==== Userdir ====

The mod_userdir module provides user-specific directories on the server. The location of the directories can be customised although the default is /home/<user>/public_html

For example http://www.servergeeks.org/~bob would return /home/bob/public_html/index.html

The userdir module can be enabled on Debian based systems by using the a2enmod command:

  sudo a2enmod userdir


==== PHP5 ====

Before reading this section please see [[Web:PHP]] for installation and configuration details.

Once PHP5 is installed the corresponding Apache module should already be enabled. After installation of the PHP5 packages you may need to restart Apache in order for the changes to take effect:

  sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart  # for Debian-based systems

  sudo /etc/init.d/httpd restart  # for Red Hat-based systems

To verify the PHP5 module is active on a Debian based system you can run the a2enmod command:

  sudo a2enmod php5

This should return something similar to “This module is already enabled!” otherwise it will enable the module.

==== MySQL ====

Before reading this section please see [[Databases:MySQL]] for installation and configuration details.