Configuration

Preliminaries

ps -xaf

If you see any httpd processes running, then note down the number under the PID column for the first httpd process and type the following at the prompt:

kill PID

where PID is the number that you noted earlier. This will stop the running httpd processes. You can verify that the processes are not running any more by typing 'ps -xaf' again.

Security Tip

adduser www

1. Configuring Apache

cd /usr/local/etc/httpd

cp httpd.conf httpd.conf.bak
This backs up the old file, in case you screw things up.

Open httpd.conf with your favourite text editor and edit the config files to your requirements. The httpd.conf file is pretty well commented, so it is not too hard to figure out what the various options do. If you want an example, the author's httpd.conf file looks something like this:

ServerType standalone
ServerRoot "/usr/local"

Timeout 30
KeepAlive Off
MaxKeepAliveRequests 100
KeepAliveTimeout 15

StartServers 5
MinSpareServers 5
MaxSpareServers 10
MaxClients 150
MaxRequestsPerChild 0

ResourceConfig /dev/null
AccessConfig /dev/null

Port 80
User www
Group www

ServerAdmin webmaster@yourdomain.com
ServerName yourwebserver
DocumentRoot "/var/www/htdocs"

<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
</Directory>

DirectoryIndex index.php
UseCanonicalName On

HostnameLookups Off
PidFile /var/run/httpd.pid
ScoreBoardFile /var/log/httpd.scoreboard

LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b" common
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" combined
CustomLog /var/log/access_log common
ErrorLog /var/log/error_log

ServerSignature Off

AddType application/x-httpd-php php php3
#AddHandler imap-file map
#AddHandler cgi-script pl

ErrorDocument 403 /error.php
ErrorDocument 404 /error.php
ErrorDocument 500 /error.php

#mod_gzip directives
mod_gzip_on yes
mod_gzip_dechunk yes
mod_gzip_keep_workfiles no
# File types that mod_gzip should work on.
# Add more file types as needed.
mod_gzip_item_include file \.htm$
mod_gzip_item_include file \.html$
mod_gzip_item_include mime text/.*
# Directory for mod_gzip to do its work in
mod_gzip_temp_dir /var/tmp

NameVirtualHost 127.0.0.1

#
# Domain 1
#
<VirtualHost 127.0.0.1>
ServerAdmin webmaster@yourdomain.com
DocumentRoot "/var/www/htdocs"
ServerName yourdomain.com
ServerAlias *.yourdomain.com
ErrorLog /var/log/yourdomain.com-error_log
</VirtualHost>

#
# Domain 2
#
<VirtualHost 127.0.0.1>
DocumentRoot "/var/www/apache-install"
DirectoryIndex mainpage.php
ErrorDocument 404 /404page.php
ErrorDocument 403 /404page.php
ServerName www.mayukhbose.com
</VirtualHost>


Note that if you use the above example, you'll need to adjust the parameters for your own configuration. Pay particular attention to the places that are coloured like this -- you may need to change those values for your setup. The code above is for two domains that are set up on a single IP address. Note the IP address set up in NameVirtualHosts and VirtualHost directives is 127.0.0.1. You should change this to your own IP address, or better yet, change it to * (i.e. NameVirtualHost * and <VirtualHost *> ) for all your IP addresses. You can adjust the other parameters as well, such as the logging options, log formats, MinSpareServers etc. to your own requirements. Feel free to experiment!

The next step is to stop and start the apache server. To do this, type:

rehash Only type this, if you're using tcsh or a similar shell.
apachectl stop
apachectl start

Every time you make changes to httpd.conf, you'll need to stop and start the apache server for the changes to take effect.

2. Removing Junk Files

3. Testing

Make sure apache is running (you did this at the end of step 1.)

Use a web browser to hit your domain. If you see the page come up then you've done it all correctly! Congratulations!!!