Felitaur Enterprises, Starting up Apache

Overview
Well, we have Linux installed, but as of yet the web server does NOT seem to be working, and we want to alter the configuration so it runs at boot time and users can set up web pages as well. Also to get familiar with the location of many of the useful files needed to control the Apache Web Server, the most commonly used web server on the net. Goals: understand how to start/stop servers edit run levels so apache starts up at boot locate server web page directory create user web page directory locate and modify apache configuration file restart server and test setup a dummy domain name and test locate information resources for apache Files/directories covered: /etc (files: hosts inittab) /etc/rc.d/init.d/ /etc/rc.d (subdirectories rc3.d long with rc0.d to rc6.d) /etc/httpd (subdirectory conf.d) /var/www/ (subdirectories: cgi-bin, html) NOTE: On older systems this would be /home/httpd/html and so on, or /usr/local/apache etc.) /var/log (files: messages) /var/log/httpd (files: access_log error_log) Commands: /sbin/service httpd start\|stop\|restart\|status /sbin/chkconfig --level 3 servername on useradd passwd mkdir ln -s vim
Questions
What is ServerRoot, where is it located? What is it? What is DocumentRoot, where is it located? What is it? How do you start and stop services? What port number does apache run on? What port number does apache-ssl run on? What is tux, what does it do? Why did we need to set the users home directory o+x ? (or 701) What does /etc/hosts do?
Activites
In class I kind of wandered around as I tried to "trouble shoot" or figure out why the various options were not working. Keep that in mind as you work through these exercises. Don't just "follow the steps" but try to understand WHAT and WHY we are doing them. NOTE: for most of this, you will need to su to root in order to have the proper permissions. Go into the /etc/rc.d/init.d where all the server start/stop/restart scripts are kept and do a ./httpd start and a (NOTE: If you are curious about what these scripts do, use less or more to read them in this directory, they usually have a short comment at the beginning to explain what they do). go into the directory that contains the symbolic links for run level 3 (rc3.d somewhere inside of /etc) and use chkconfig to: remove these services from run level 3 add httpd to run level 3 go to etc hosts and add a line 192.168.xx.xxx fakename.com (Fill in xx.xxx with your present IP address, and what you type for fakename.com is up to you) Start up netscape, first load up 192.168.xx.xxx, then fakename.com (which mysteriously won't work yet) to make sure you can contact your web server Go to /var/www/html and edit/create the index.html file to make a homepage for your system Hit reload in netscape to see your changes Now, you need to allow users to create web directories. go edit httpd.conf (in /etc/httpd/conf.d directory) first make a backup by cp httpd.conf httpd.conf.original Open the file with vi or pico NOTE lines such as "ServerRoot" and "DocumentRoot" and what they are set to in the file. Search for ServerName (use ctrl-w to search in pico) and set it to your fakename.com:80 (now fakename.com should work) Search for <Directory "/var/www/html"> and add ExecCGI to the Options line. Go into the DocumentRoot (which is /var/www/html for now) create a symbolic link to /home/username/public_html where the name of the link is the username add a public_html directory to /etc/skel NOTE: Error logs are now much more complex in recent versions of Apache, so don't do the following that refer to error_log Uncomment the following two lines CustomLog /var/log/httpd/referer_log referer CustomLog /var/log/httpd/agent_log agent Uncomment ErrorDocument 404 /missing.html Log in as a simple user Go to that users home directory mkdir public_html copy your template.html to index.html, edit it slightly, and put it in public_html If you try 192.168.xx.xxx/username/ it won't work yet, why? go to /home chmod o+x username (sets x on usernames home directory, or do chmod 701 username) 192.168.xx.xxx/username/ still won't work, why? Restart httpd so changes take effect Here is a neat trick, and another good reason to always make a backup of a configuration file BEFORE you change it. Go back into /etc/httpd/conf type diff httpd.conf httpd.conf.original What does this give you?
References
Using netscape or mozilla, go to file, open, choose(browse) go to 127.0.0.1/manual Then in netscape click on bookmarks Slide to "file bookmarks" And put it in your personal toolbar folder Apache 1.3 Online Documents Apache 2.2 Online Documents This page last updated on: