Data Networking/Fall 2014/Priya/WEB-SERVER/configuring the Apache2 web server
In this article, we will describe the steps and procedures required to install and configure Apache 2 web server on a Linux machine, (specifically Ubuntu 14.04).
Step 1
Installing Apache2
To install Apache2 on Ubuntu 14.04, use the following commands
Update Linux files
sudo apt-get update
Installs Apache2 Web Server
sudo apt-get install apache2
To check that Apache2 is successfully installed, open a web browser and type the following
http://localhost
If the Apache2 default page should be displayed, congratulation!
Step 2
Creating Directory files
After successfully installing Apache2, we'll create the html file that will contain our web site information and design. To create the directory folder, use the following command
sudo mkdir /var/www/neunetworks.com/
Change the properties of the directory to allow the web server to read the html file
sudo chmod 755 /var/www/ sudo chown $USER:$USER /var/www/neunetworks.com/
Create and edit sample.html to the layout you prefer
sudo nano /var/www/neunetworks.com/sample.html
Step 3
Configuring Apache2 - apache2.conf
Now we have to configure it to meet our needs. The Apache2 configuration file is apache2.conf and can be accessed using the following command
sudo nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
We are required to do the following modifications, add the following lines to apache2.conf:
<Directory /var/www/neunetworks.com/> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None Require all granted </Directory>
Adding /var/www/neunetworks.com/ directory allows the Apache2 to reach our hosted web site located at that directory. The apache2.conf has many other variables that can be modified to our demands, such as KeepAlive and MaxKeepAliveRequests, which determines how the web server would handle persistent HTTP connections.
Step 4
Configuring Apache2 - dir.conf
Since we didn't use the default .html file syntax (index.html), we have to add our 'sample.html' to the list of accessible directory indices. Modify the following file
sudo nano /etc/apache2/mods-available/dir.conf
Append sample.html to the list of indices
<IfModule mod_dir.c> DirectoryIndex index.html index.cgi index.pl index.php index.xhtml index.htm sample.html </IfModule>
Step 5
Configuring Apache2 - 000-default.conf
000-default.conf is used by the Server to identify itself. For our web site, we need to modify/add the following lines to direct the web server to our web site
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost ServerName neunetworks.com DocumentRoot /var/www/neunetworks.com
Step 6
Restart Apache2
Now that the Apache2 configuration is complete, we need to reload the web server, so that the new configurations can be implemented
sudo service Apache2 restart
Step 7
Verification
To verify that our changes have been successfully configured and implemented, simply reload the web site (you might need to delete your browser's cahce)
http://localhost