1. Linux Operations and Administration
Chapter Ten
Apache Web Server

2. Objectives
Install Apache Web Server along with additional Apache modules
Configure an Apache Web server with a GUI utility and by modifying Apache configuration files
Create a Web page by writing an HTML script

3. Installing Apache Web Server
A network computer with the primary role of serving Web pages to clients on request
Can also host a Web site along with images, style sheets, and other content
Clients (Web browsers) can access the Web pages
Receives data from clients

4. Installing Apache Web Server (cont’d.)
Open-source
Free
Developed by Apache Software Foundation (ASF)
Designed to run on a wide variety of operating systems

5. Installing Apache Web Server (cont’d.)
Apache version 2.2
Included with openSUSE
Not installed by default
Configured to run “out of the box” with no further modifications needed

6. Installing Apache Web Server (cont’d.)
Apache software is mostly modular
PHP module
A poplar module
PHP
A server-side scripting language
Commonly used to create dynamic Web pages

7. Installing Apache Web Server (cont’d.)
Options to install Apache Web Server
yast command
YaST Software Management module
Activity 10-1: Installing Apache Web Server
Install Apache Web Server and other Web-related packages

8. Starting and Stopping Apache
To start apache2 service using YaST:
Open YaST
Select System Services (Runlevel)
Search for apache2 and enable the service

9. Starting and Stopping Apache (cont’d.)
To start apache2 service at the command line:
rcapache2 command
Can be used only by the root user
Is a link to a startup script in /etc/init.d directory
Used to start, stop, and restart apache2 service
Table 10-1
Describes common options used with rcapache2 command

10. Starting and Stopping Apache (cont’d.)
Table 10-1 Common options used with rcapache2

11. Starting and Stopping Apache (cont’d.)
To test an Apache Web server:
Start Firefox
Enter in address bar
Activity 10-2: Starting and Testing an ApacheWeb Server
Check the status of an Apache Web server, stop and start the apache2 service, and test an ApacheWeb server at the command line and with a GUI tool

12. Starting and Stopping Apache (cont’d.)
Figure 10-1 The Apache test page
© Cengage Learning 2013

13. Configuring Apache Web Server
Methods to configure Apache Web server
Use the graphical YaST module (yast2-http-server)
Advantages: convenient and easy to use
Modify Apache configuration files
httpd.conf
Main configuration file
Contains directives (instructions that tell Apache how to run)
Advantage: can make more detailed changes

14. Apache Configuration with HTTP-Server
A YaST module for configuring Apache
Package name: yast2-http-server
Can be installed from YaST Software Management
To begin the Apache configuration process in HTTP-Server:
Use yast2 http-server command

15. Apache Configuration with HTTP-Server (cont’d.)
Figure 10-2 The HTTP Server Wizard
© Cengage Learning 2013

16. Apache Configuration with HTTP-Server (cont’d.)
HTTP Server Wizard
Five steps
Can choose network interface and ports that Apache listens on
Port
An interface for connecting a hardware device, such as a disk drive or printer
In networking, it’s a data connection established for communication between hosts
Port number identifies the type of function assigned to it

17. Apache Configuration with HTTP-Server (cont’d.)
HTTP Server Wizard allows you to enable scripting languages
Such as PHP and Perl
Web server’s default host
First declared virtual host in the configuration file
Virtual host
Makes it possible to run multiple domains on one physical machine
You can add virtual hosts as needed with HTTP Server Wizard

18. Apache Configuration with HTTP-Server (cont’d.)
Figure 10-3 Configuring the default host
© Cengage Learning 2013

19. Apache Configuration with HTTP-Server (cont’d.)
You can set the following for a Web server in Apache:
DocumentRoot
Alias
ScriptAlias
Include
Server Name
Server Administrator

20. Apache Configuration with HTTP-Server (cont’d.)
Activity 10-3: Using the HTTP Server Wizard
Configure an Apache Web server with the HTTP Server Wizard
Expert mode
Enables you to adjust more settings than in the wizard

21. Apache Configuration with HTTP-Server (cont’d.)
Figure 10-4 Expert mode in the HTTP Server Wizard
© Cengage Learning 2013

22. Manual Apache Configuration
Can configure an Apache Web server manually
Edit configuration files in /etc/apache2/ directory
Table 10-2
Describes common configuration files stored in this directory
Apache configuration files follow the syntax:
One directive per line
# symbols indicate comments

23. Manual Apache Configuration (cont’d.)
Table 10-2 Apache configuration files

24. Manual Apache Configuration (cont’d.)
apache2ctl -t command
Verifies that configuration files have no syntax errors
Activity 10-4: Using Apache Configuration Files
Explore common Apache configuration files

25. Manual Apache Configuration (cont’d.)
Figure 10-5 Contents of an Apache configuration file
© Cengage Learning 2013

26. Virtual Hosts
Virtual hosts can be used to support multiple Web sites on one physical server
By default, Apache is configured with a default host and no virtual host
Apache supports:
Name-based virtual hosts
Multiple Web sites share the same IP address
IP-based virtual hosts
Multiple IP addresses for a single machine

27. Name-Based Virtual Hosts
Ways to create name-based virtual hosts:
Editing httpd.conf file
Virtual host configuration files
NameVirtualHost directive
Specifies the IP address to use for name-based virtual hosts

28. Name-Based Virtual Hosts (cont’d.)
An httpd.conf file that has been modified to support two virtual hosts:

29. Name-Based Virtual Hosts (cont’d.)
ServerName directive
Specifies name of the server
Apache uses it to determine which virtual host is displayed
All virtual hosts you create must have their server name resolved on the network

30. Name-Based Virtual Hosts (cont’d.)
ServerAlias directive
Can be used to define multiple names for a virtual host
Order, Allow, and Deny directives
Enable you to define which hosts can access files in a particular directory and which hosts can’t
Order directive
Tells Apache which filter (allow or deny) should be run first

31. Name-Based Virtual Hosts (cont’d.)
Another way to create virtual hosts is to create a virtual host configuration file in /etc/apache2/vhosts.d directory
Virtual host template (vhost.template)
You can copy it and rename
A virtual host configuration file must have a .conf extension

32. Name-Based Virtual Hosts (cont’d.)
ServerAdmin directive
Lists the Apache administrator’s account
The only directives you must change:
ServerName directive
DocumentRoot directive
Defines the directory path Apache uses to serve files for this host
Directory directive
Applies only to the named file system directory and subdirectories and their contents

33. Name-Based Virtual Hosts (cont’d.)
After creating a virtual host configuration file, define NameVirtualHost directive in /etc/apache2/listen.conf file
Activity 10-5: Creating Virtual Hosts
Use a template to create virtual Apache Web servers

34. Name-Based Virtual Hosts (cont’d.)
Figure 10-7 Defining the NameVirtualHost directive in the listen.conf file
© Cengage Learning 2013

35. Creating a Web Page DocumentRoot directive
Defines the directory Apache uses to serve Web pages to clients
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
An address to a resource on the Internet
index.html file
Main Web page
Default content in HTML markup: <html><body><h1>It works!</h1></body></html>

36. Creating a Web Page (cont’d.)
Figure 10-8 A URL requesting a directory
© Cengage Learning 2013

37. Creating a Web Page (cont’d.)
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
Hypertext
Contains references or links to access other files or text
Markup language
Consists of instructions called tags that define how text is displayed

38. Creating a Web Page (cont’d.)
Figure 10-9 Placing HTML tags on separate lines
© Cengage Learning 2013

39. Creating a Web Page (cont’d.)
Table 10-3 Common HTML tags

40. Creating a Web Page (cont’d.)
To create a Web page in openSUSE Linux:
You must use a text editor
Activity 10-6: Creating Web Pages with HTML
Create a basic HTML Web page

41. Summary Apache Web Server rcapache2 command can be used to:
Web server software that can be downloaded free
Available with the latest version of openSUSE
rcapache2 command can be used to:
Check status of Apache Web server
Start, stop, and restart the server
HTTP-Server is a YaST application module for configuring Apache
Manual Apache configuration: modifying directives (instructions) in Apache configuration files

42. Summary (cont’d.)
With virtual hosts in Apache Web Server, you can run multiple Web sites on one physical machine
Apache Web Server supports two types of virtual hosts:
Name-based virtual hosts
IP-based virtual hosts
A number of directives can be configured on an Apache Web server
Includes the mandatory DocumentRoot, Directory, and ServerName