Apache installation and configurations

What's Apache?What's Apache?

Apache is open source, powerful, free

and runs on more than half of all

Internet servers. Let's take a quick

look at how to get your Apache

server up and running.

Downloading Apache

Obviously, the first thing you need to do is download the necessary source

files. Various mirrors provide the download, so where you get the files is largely a matter of preference. (I

tend to download from mirrors because there's not as much traffic as on the main site.) The files are

available from the Apache Web site, as well.

Apache installation and setup

Now that you've downloaded the software, you can begin the installation, which you'll

handle completely from the command line. First, extract the files with the

following commands:

$ tar -xvzf apache-version.tar.gz$ cd apache-version/

Apache installation and setup cont.

Now that the source is untarred and ready to go, you can begin the configuration, which offers a wide range of customisation options. If you run the command ./configure --help you can see a

list of Apache's configuration options, which are divided into various sections:

* General options * Stand-alone options

* Installation layout options * Configuration options

* suEXEC options * Deprecated options

Installing Apache on Windows XP

Instructions:To download Apache, go to

http://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.cgi, choose a mirror and go to the

/dist/httpd/binaries/win32 directory. From this directory download the MSI file with no

source code included, i.e. the file name should look like apache_1.3.x-win32-x86-

no_src.msi (where x is any number).

Step 2 - Installing the Apache Web Server

Double click the apache_1.3.xx-win32-x86-no_src.msi file (where xx can be any number).

The “Apache HTTP Server Installation Wizard” will appear. Fill in the fields as below but replace the Server Name with the name of your computer and the email address with your email address. Make sure you have selected “Run as a service for all users” and click “Next”.

The next option relates to the type of setup. As shown below, make sure “complete” is selected

and click “next”.

When asked which folder to install to, choose the default (C:\Program Files\Apache Group)

and click “Next” then “Install”.

To test the Apache installation go to http://127.0.0.1/ using a web browser of your

choice.If you can see the “Test Page for Apache

Installation” (like the one shown in the image below) you have successfully installed Apache.

Apache Configurations

1.AcceptFilter directiveSyntax: AcceptFilter on|off

Default: AcceptFilter on

Context: server config

Status: core

Compatibility: AcceptFilter is available in Apache 1.3.22 and later

AcceptFilter controls a BSD specific filter optimization

2.AcceptMutex directiveAcceptMutex directive

Syntax: AcceptMutex uslock|pthread|sysvsem|fcntl|flock|os2sem|tpfcore|none|default

Default: AcceptMutex default


Status: core

Compatibility: AcceptMutex is available in Apache 1.3.21 and later.

AcceptMutex controls which accept() mutex method Apache will us

3.AccessConfig directiveSyntax: AccessConfig file-path|directory-path|

wildcard-path

Default: AccessConfig conf/access.conf

Context: server config, virtual host

Status: core

Compatibility: The ability to specify a directory, rather than a file name, is only available in Apache 1.3.13 and later. This directive will be eliminated in version 2.0.

This feature can be disabled using: AccessConfig /dev/null

Or, on Win32 servers, AccessConfig nul

Historically, this file only contained <Directory> sections; in fact it can now contain any server directive allowed in the server config context.

However, since Apache version 1.3.4, the default access.conf file which ships with Apache contains

only comments.

4.AccessFileName directive

Syntax: AccessFileName filename [filename] ...Default: AccessFileName .htaccessContext: server config, virtual host

Status: coreCompatibility: AccessFileName can accept more

than one filename only in Apache 1.3 and later

For example: AccessFileName .acl

before returning the document /usr/local/web/index.html, the server will

read /.acl, /usr/.acl, /usr/local/.acl and /usr/local/web/.acl for directives, unless they

have been disabled with <Directory />

AllowOverride None </Directory>

5.AddDefaultCharset directive

Syntax: AddDefaultCharset On|Off|charsetContext: allStatus: core

Default: AddDefaultCharset OffCompatibility: AddDefaultCharset is only available in

Apache 1.3.12 and later

AddDefaultCharset On enables Apache's internal default charset of iso-8859-1 as required by the

directive. You can also specify an alternate charset to be used.

For example:

AddDefaultCharset utf-8

6.AddModule directive

Syntax: AddModule module [module] ...Context: server config

Status: coreCompatibility: AddModule is only available in

Apache 1.2 and later

For example: AddModule mod_include.c

7.AllowOverride directive

Syntax: AllowOverride All|None|directive-type [directive-type] ...

Default: AllowOverride AllContext: directory

Status: coreAllowOverride is only valid in <Directory>

sections, not in <Location> or <Files> sections, as implied by the Context section above

8.AuthName directive

AuthName directiveSyntax: AuthName auth-domain

Context: directory, .htaccessOverride: AuthConfig

Status: cor sets the name of the authorization realm for a

directory

It must be accompanied by AuthType and Require directives, and directives such as AuthUserFile and AuthGroupFile to work.

For example:

AuthName "Top Secret"

The string provided for the AuthName is what will appear in the password dialog provided by most

browsers.

9.AuthDigestRealmSeed directive

Syntax: AuthDigestRealmSeed secret-real-stringContext: directory, .htaccess

Override: AuthConfigStatus: core

sets a per realm secret nonce prefix which is used to ensure that a captured username, password and realm string during a Digest

exchange cannot be replayed at other places.

10.AuthType directive

Syntax: AuthType Basic|DigestContext: directory, .htaccess

Override: AuthConfigStatus: core

This directive selects the type of user authentication for a directory. Only Basic and Digest are currently implemented. It must be

accompanied by AuthName and Require directives, and directives such as AuthUserFile

and AuthGroupFile to work.

11.BindAddress directive

BindAddress directiveSyntax: BindAddress *|IP-address|domain-name

Default: BindAddress *Context: server config

Status: coreCompatibility: BindAddress is deprecated and will

be eliminated in Apache 2.0.

For example:BindAddress 192.168.15.48

BindAddress can be used as an alternative method for supporting virtual hosts using multiple independent servers, instead of

using <VirtualHost> sections

12.BS2000Account directive

Syntax: BS2000Account account

Default: none


Status: core

Compatibility: BS2000Account is only available for BS2000 machines, as of Apache 1.3 and later.

BS2000Account directive is available for BS2000 hosts only.It must be used to define the account number for the non-privileged apache server user (which was configured using the User directive).

13.CGICommandArgs directive

Syntax: CGICommandArgs On|Off

Default: CGICommandArgs On

Context: directory, .htaccess

Override: Options

Status: core

Compatibility: Available in Apache 1.3.24 and later.

14.ClearModuleList directive

Syntax: ClearModuleList


Status: core

Compatibility: ClearModuleList is only available in Apache 1.2 and later.

This directive clears the list. It is assumed that the list will then be re-populated using the AddModule directive.

15.ContentDigest directive

Syntax: ContentDigest on|off

Default: ContentDigest off

Context: server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess

Override: Options

Status: experimental

Compatibility: ContentDigest is only available in Apache 1.1 and later

This directive enables the generation of Content-MD5 headers as defined in RFC1864 respectively RFC2068

16.CoreDumpDirectory directive

Syntax: CoreDumpDirectory directory-path

Default: the same location as ServerRoot


Status: core

This controls the directory to which Apache attempts to switch before dumping core.

17.DefaultType directive

Syntax: DefaultType MIME-type

Default: DefaultType text/plain


Override: FileInfo

Status: core

There will be times when the server is asked to provide a document whose type cannot be determined by its MIME types mappings.

The server must inform the client of the content-type of the document, so in the event of an unknown type it uses the DefaultType. For example:

DefaultType image/gif

18.DirectoryMatch

<DirectoryMatch>

Syntax: <DirectoryMatch regex> ... </DirectoryMatch>


Status: Core.

Compatibility: Available in Apache 1.3 and late

<DirectoryMatch> and </DirectoryMatch> are used to enclose a group of directives which will apply only to the named directory and sub-directories of that directory, the same as <Directory>. However, it takes as an argument a regular expression.

For example:

<DirectoryMatch "^/www/.*/[0-9]{3}">

19.DocumentRoot directive

DocumentRoot directive

Syntax: DocumentRoot directory-path

Default: DocumentRoot /usr/local/apache/htdocs


Status: core

This directive sets the directory from which httpd will serve files.

Unless matched by a directive like Alias, the server appends the path from the requested URL to the document root to make the path to the document.

Example:

DocumentRoot /usr/web

then an access to http://www.my.host.com/index.html refers to /usr/web/index.html.

20.EBCDICConvert

Syntax: EBCDICConvert On|Off[=direction] extension [extension] ...


Status: core

Override: FileInfo

Compatibility: The configurable EBCDIC conversion is only available in Apache 1.3.19 and later.

The EBCDICConvert directive maps the given filename extensions to the specified conversion setting (On or Off). File extensions may be specified with or without a leading dot

21.EnableExceptionHook directive

Syntax: EnableExceptionHook on|off

Default: EnableExceptionHook off


Status: core

Compatibility: EnableExceptionHook is available in Apache 1.3.30 and later

EnableExceptionHook controls whether or not an exception hook implemented by a module will be called after a child process crash.

22.<Files> directive

Syntax: <Files filename> ... </Files>

Context: server config, virtual host, .htaccess

Status: core

Compatibility: only available in Apache 1.2 and above

The <Files> directive provides for access control by filename.

23.<FilesMatch>

Syntax: <FilesMatch regex> ... </FilesMatch>

Context: server config, virtual host, .htaccess

Status: core

Compatibility: only available in Apache 1.3 and above.

The <FilesMatch> directive provides for access control by filename, just as the <Files> directive does. However, it accepts a regular expression. For example:

<FilesMatch "\.(gif|jpe?g|png)$">

would match most common Internet graphics formats.

24.HostnameLookups directive

Syntax: HostnameLookups on|off|double

Default: HostnameLookups off

Context: server config, virtual host, directory

Status: core

Compatibility: double available only in Apache 1.3 and above.

Compatibility: Default was on prior to Apache 1.3.

This directive enables DNS lookups so that host names can be logged (and passed to CGIs/SSIs in REMOTE_HOST).

At least one of the ip addresses in the forward lookup must match the original address. (In "tcpwrappers" terminology this is called PARANOID.)

25.IdentityCheck directive

Syntax: IdentityCheck on|off

Default: IdentityCheck off

Context: server config, virtual host, directory

Status: core

This directive enables RFC1413-compliant logging of the remote user name for each connection, where the client machine runs identd or something similar. This information is logged in the access log.

26.<IfDefine> directiveSyntax: <IfDefine [!]parameter-name> ... </IfDefine>

Default: None

Context: all

Status: Core

Compatibility: <IfDefine> is only available in 1.3.1 and later.

The <IfDefine test>...</IfDefine> section is used to mark directives that are conditional. The directives within an IfDefine section are only processed if the test is true. If test is false, everything between the start and end markers is ignored.

The test in the <IfDefine> section directive can be one of two forms:

* parameter-name

* !parameter-name

27.<IfModule> directive

Syntax: <IfModule [!]module-name> ... </IfModule>

Default: None

Context: all

Status: Core

Compatibility: IfModule is only available in 1.2 and later.

The <IfModule test>...</IfModule> section is used to mark directives that are conditional. The directives within an IfModule section are only processed if the test is true. If test is false, everything between the start and end markers is ignored.

The test in the <IfModule> section directive can be one of two forms:

* module name * !module name

28.KeepAliveTimeout directiveSyntax: KeepAliveTimeout seconds

Default: KeepAliveTimeout 15


Status: Core

Compatibility: KeepAliveTimeout is only available in Apache 1.1 and later.

The number of seconds Apache will wait for a subsequent request before closing the connection.

29.<Limit> directive

Syntax: <Limit method [method] ... > ... </Limit>

Context: any

Status: core

Access controls are normally effective for all access methods, and this is the usual desired behavior. In the general case, access control directives should not be placed within a <limit> section

30.<LimitExcept> directive

<LimitExcept> directive

Syntax: <LimitExcept method [method] ... > ... </LimitExcept>

Context: any

Status: core

Compatibility: Available in Apache 1.3.5 and later

<LimitExcept> and </LimitExcept> are used to enclose a group of access control directives which will then apply to any HTTP access method not listed in the arguments; i.e., it is the opposite of a <Limit> section and can be used to control both standard and nonstandard/unrecognized methods. See the documentation for <Limit> for more details.For example:

<LimitExcept POST GET>

Require valid-user

</LimitExcept>

Thank you

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Apache installation and configurations