apache server tutorial (install,config, performance tuning, security, error handling)

apache server tutorial (install,config, performance tuning, security, error handling).

red hat family CentOS,fedora, reshat (yum repository)

Debian & ubuntu apt or apt-get( repository)

Table of Contents

Installation

sudo apt-get install apache2

apt install php-mod

Configuration

/etc/apache2/apache.conf

Virtual hosts

To map domains to directory

ServerName domain.com

DocumentRoot /var/www/

# ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log

#CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

SSL

<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName newdomain.com

DocumentRoot /var/www/
#ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log
#CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined

SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.pem
</VirtualHost>

Apache modules

Dynamic modules

Check enabled modules
to enable
a2endmod (module name)
to disable
sudo a2dismod module name mod_rewrite

Or edit

vi /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf#LoadModule auth_digest_module modules/mod_auth_digest.so
comment or remove the load module.
You can sell list of installed modules.
Modules in directory.
Modules nothing but additional features to core apache server. Just like apps in android.
apache2 -M | grep “php7_module”
grep used to search
httpd vs apache2
httpd is apache version 1,while apache2 is the latest version apache2.4 or 2.6.

strengthening apache server security

Hiding apache version info
nano /etc/apache2/apache.conf
ServerSignature Off
ServerTokens Prod
service apache2 reload
or
service apache2 restart

Iptables friendly interference ufw.
block ports.

Once you commented the module, save
Security strengthening
Mod-evasis
avoids boot force attack by rate limiting

apache Mod_security

Disable directory listing in apache

Options -Indexes

Limit request size

LimitRequestBody 512000

Maximum upload size.

Virtual host sample format

Don’t include error log for every website.
Because files gets increase the size.
so log rotation feature for every directory.
Just check universal apache error log by command line or sftp client or cpanel whm.

Note: cpanel only works with apache not with nginx.

Gui based softwares for Apache server
cPanel, Plesk, ISPConfig, Ajenti, Kloxo, Open Panel,
Zpanel etc

Know more on apache modules
apache server security
apache performance tuning
apache configuration file.
apache server errors
installation in various os.
niginx vs apache

Installing lamp stack

Linux , apache, MySQL, php.

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install apache2

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

sudo apt-get install php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql

Check apache server running or not by this command.

sudo service apache2 status

sudo apt-get install apache2

service apache2 status

service nginx stop && service apache2 start

sudo systemctl disable nginx

service nginx status

sudo service apache2 reload

apache 2.4 enable mod_rewrite

/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf AllowOverride All

02. Introduction To Apache
**************************
Apache in a Nutshell 1:57
History of Apache 1:42
Features 2:43
Integration 2:12

03. Installing Apache on Linux
******************************
Installing Apache on Linux 2:39
Installing Apache from RPMs 1:42
Installing Apache from Source 2:44
Demo: Installing on Linux 1:54

04. Installing Apache on Windows
********************************
Installation 3:45
Configuration Methods on Windows 2:16
Basic Apache Adminstration on Windows 2:29
Demon: Installing on Windows 4:53

05. Configuring Apache on Linux
*******************************
Configuration Files 4:23
Configuring Apache at the Command Line 2:20
Configuring Apache With the GUI 1:39
Configuring Apache With Webmin 2:49
Apache Modules 2:19
Demo: Configuring Apache Web Server 2:08

06. Managing Content on Apache Server
*************************************
Virtual Hosting 3:06
Content Publishing 1:26
Proxying with Apache 2:35
Caching 1:45
Demo: Managing Content on Apache 2:13

07. Configuring MySQL on Apache
*******************************
Intro to MySQL 3:19
Installing MySQL 2:04
Configuring MySQL 2:18
Securing MySQL 2:35

08. Configuring PHP on Apache
*****************************
Intro to PHP 1:53
Installing PHP 2:29
Configuring PHP 3:06
PHP Security 2:16
Demo: Configuring PHP on Apache 2:50

09. Apache Web Server Admin
***************************
Remote Administration 3:57
Performance Monitoring 2:08
Authentication 1:49
Logging 1:17
Demo: Remote Administration of Apache 4:20

10. Security Testing Apache
***************************
Introduction To Penetration Testing 2:31
Pen Testing Platforms & Tools 2:24
Testing Web Servers 3:54
Testing Web Applications 2:49
Testing Databases 3:26

11. Securing Apache
*******************
Securing the Server 4:14
Securing the OS 4:06
Securing Apache Web Server 2:47
Securing Apache Applications 4:20
Securing the Network 2:39

12. Best Practices to Running Apache
************************************
Installation & Configuration 1:55
Administration 1:17
Security 3:52

to check all enabled modules in apache

apachectl -M

hhh# apachectl -M

Loaded Modules:

core_module (static)

so_module (static)

watchdog_module (static)

http_module (static)

log_config_module (static)

logio_module (static)

version_module (static)

unixd_module (static)

access_compat_module (shared)

apachectl -M | sort

ls /etc/apache2/mods-available/

Addthis apache virtual host file

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks

Require all granted

AllowOverride All

</Directory>

a2enmod rewrite

a2endmod php5

sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-php5

service apache2 restart

a2enmod rewrite

Module rewrite already enabled

Enable caching on apache server

a2enmod expires

Enabling module expires.

To activate the new configuration, you need to run:

service apache2 restart

/etc/apache2/sites-available/default

add it to htaccess or vhosts or document root of apache server ( <Directory “/var/www/html”> and </Directory>

[root directory]

ExpiresActive On

ExpiresDefault “access plus 1 week”

</FilesMatch>

</IfModule>

[root directory]

Expires_module and mod_headers module

setup expire headers on Apache

htaccess

ExpiresActive on

ExpiresDefault “access plus 30 seconds”

ExpiresByType text/html “access plus 15 days”

ExpiresByType image/gif “access plus 1 months”

ExpiresByType image/jpg “access plus 1 months”

ExpiresByType image/jpeg “access plus 1 months”

ExpiresByType image/png “access plus 1 months”

ExpiresByType text/js “access plus 1 months”

ExpiresByType text/javascript “access plus 1 months”

</IfModule>

Browser caching

## BEGIN BROWSER CACHING ##

ExpiresActive On

ExpiresByType image/jpg “access 1 year”

ExpiresByType image/jpeg “access 1 year”

ExpiresByType image/gif “access 1 year”

ExpiresByType image/png “access 1 year”

ExpiresByType text/css “access 1 month”

ExpiresByType application/pdf “access 1 month”

ExpiresByType text/x-javascript “access 1 month”

ExpiresByType application/javascript “access 1 month”

ExpiresByType application/x-javascript “access 1 month”

ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash “access 1 month”

ExpiresByType image/x-icon “access 1 year”

ExpiresDefault “access 2 days”

## END BROWSER CACHING ##

<IfModule mod_expires.c> ExpiresActive on ExpiresDefault “access plus 1 month” # CSS ExpiresByType text/css “access plus 1 year” # Data interchange ExpiresByType application/json “access plus 0 seconds” ExpiresByType application/ld json “access plus 0 seconds” ExpiresByType application/xml “access plus 0 seconds” ExpiresByType text/xml “access plus 0 seconds” # Favicon (cannot be renamed!) and cursor images ExpiresByType image/x-icon “access plus 1 week” # HTML components (HTCs) ExpiresByType text/x-component “access plus 1 month” # HTML ExpiresByType text/html “access plus 0 seconds” # JavaScript ExpiresByType application/javascript “access plus 1 year” # Manifest files ExpiresByType application/x-web-app-manifest json “access plus 0 seconds” ExpiresByType text/cache-manifest “access plus 0 seconds” # Media ExpiresByType audio/ogg “access plus 1 month” ExpiresByType image/gif “access plus 1 month” ExpiresByType image/jpeg “access plus 1 month” ExpiresByType image/png “access plus 1 month” ExpiresByType video/mp4 “access plus 1 month” ExpiresByType video/ogg “access plus 1 month” ExpiresByType video/webm “access plus 1 month” # Web feeds ExpiresByType application/atom xml “access plus 1 hour” ExpiresByType application/rss xml “access plus 1 hour” </IfModule>

Cache Control Headers in apache

# BEGIN Cache-Control Headers

Header set Cache-Control “public”

</filesMatch>

Header set Cache-Control “public”

</filesMatch>

Header set Cache-Control “private”

</filesMatch>

Header set Cache-Control “private, must-revalidate”

</filesMatch>

</ifModule>

# END Cache-Control Headers

<ifModule mod_headers.c> Header unset Last-Modified </ifModule>

<ifModule mod_headers.c> Header unset ETag </ifModule>FileETag None

#Gzip in enable in apache

<ifModule mod_deflate.c> AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html text/xml text/css text/plain AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/svg+xml application/xhtml+xml application/xml AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/rdf+xml application/rss+xml application/atom+xml AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/javascript application/javascript application/x-javascript application/json AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-ttf application/x-font-otf AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/truetype font/opentype </ifModule>

a2enmod deflate

compress Gzip enable on apache

/etc/apache2/mods-available/deflate.conf

by default it eables

vhost enable

#enable the vhost

sudo a2ensite vogella.conf

#disable the vhost

sudo a2dissite www.vogella.com

Leverage browser caching

loggin size

/etc/logrotate.conf

Normally, in the vhost entry for the site, you will have something like:

CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access-example.com.log combined

Now we replace it with this:

SetEnvIf Request_URI “\.(jpg|xml|png|gif|ico|js|css|swf|js?.|css?.)$” DontLog

CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access-example.com.log combined Env=!DontLog

For example, on a site that used to get around 2 million page views per day, the log size had 133,910,121 entries for only one week, and consumed over 38 gigabytes!

The access log file typically grows 1 MB or more per 10,000 requests.

delete or moving cannot possible while server running

split-logfile

https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/programs/rotatelogs.html

apache server tutorial (install,config, performance tuning, security, error handling)

Installation

Configuration

Apache modules

strengthening apache server security

apache Mod_security

Virtual host sample format

Installing lamp stack

to check all enabled modules in apache

apachectl -M | sort

Expires_module and mod_headers module

Cache Control Headers in apache

#Gzip in enable in apache

loggin size

Server Admin Cloud

wordpress