The Apache web server is the most widely used platform for deploying HTTP-based services. Its popularity is due to its support for dynamically loadable modules, compatibility with various file formats, and integration with other software tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To install the Apache HTTP server following this guide, you will need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo<\/code> privileges or root<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\n- Enabled
firewalld<\/code><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re looking for a reliable, high-performance, and budget-friendly solution for your workflows, Hostman has you covered with Linux VPS Hosting<\/a> options, including Debian VPS<\/a>, Ubuntu VPS<\/a>, and VPS CentOS<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nStep 1: Install Apache<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe Apache package is available in the official CentOS repository, so you can install it using dnf<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFirst, update the package list:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo dnf update -y<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nRun the following command to install Apache:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo dnf install httpd -y<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThe package manager will install the Apache web server and all necessary dependencies on CentOS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 2: Configuring the Firewall<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\nTo operate the web server, you\u2019ll need to configure the firewall to allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http\nsudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nAfter running these commands, restart the firewall to apply the new rules:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo firewall-cmd --reload<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThe Apache installation is now complete, and you can start the web server and check its functionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 3: Checking the HTTP Server<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\nOnce installed, Apache isn\u2019t running yet, so you need to enable and start it using these commands:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo systemctl enable httpd\nsudo systemctl start httpd<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nTo verify if the Apache service has started, use this command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo systemctl status httpd<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nIf the web server is running correctly, you should see a message showing the status as active (running)<\/code>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u25cf httpd.service - The Apache HTTP Server\n Loaded: loaded (\/usr\/lib\/systemd\/system\/httpd.service; enabled; preset: disabled)\n Active: active (running) since Thu 2024-11-07 07:34:27 GMT; 6s ago<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nAnother way to check is to open the server\u2019s IP address in a browser:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
http://your_server_ip<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nYou can find your server\u2019s IP on the server’s Dashboard or in an email received after setting up the server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 4: Managing the Apache Service<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\nNow, you can try some systemctl commands for interacting with the Apache service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, to stop the HTTP server, use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo systemctl stop httpd<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nTo start it again, use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo systemctl start httpd<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nFor a complete restart, such as when applying configuration changes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo systemctl restart httpd<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nTo reload Apache without interrupting active connections, use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo systemctl reload httpd<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nWe enabled Apache to start automatically when the server boots. If you prefer to disable this option, run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo systemctl disable httpd<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThese commands allow you to manage the Apache process easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 5: Setting Up Virtual Hosts<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe default Apache HTTP server configuration allows for hosting only one site<\/a>. However, you can set up virtual hosts to host multiple sites with separate resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\nVirtual hosts in Apache work similarly to those in Nginx. They allow you to separate configurations and host multiple domains on a single virtual or physical server. In this guide, we\u2019ll use a placeholder site called example.com. When configuring, replace it with your actual domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Create the
html<\/code> directory for example.com:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nsudo mkdir -p \/var\/www\/example.com\/html<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\n- Create a directory for log files:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
sudo mkdir -p \/var\/www\/example.com\/log<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\n- Set permissions for the
html<\/code> directory. Assign ownership to the $USER<\/code> environment variable.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nsudo chown -R $USER:$USER \/var\/www\/example.com\/html<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\n- Verify standard permissions for the root directory:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
sudo chmod -R 755 \/var\/www<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\n- Create an
index.html<\/code> file. You can use any code editor to create this file. For example, with vi<\/code>:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nsudo vi \/var\/www\/example.com\/html\/index.html<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nAdd simple content to the file:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<html>\n <head>\n <title>Welcome to Example.com!<\/title>\n <\/head>\n <body>\n <h1>Success! The example.com virtual host is working!<\/h1>\n <\/body>\n<\/html>\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nAfter saving index.html<\/code>, you\u2019re nearly ready to set up the configuration files for each domain. These files will tell Apache how to handle requests for each virtual host.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- Create directories for virtual host configurations. The configuration files for individual domains are stored in a
sites-available<\/code> directory, while the sites-enabled<\/code> directory will contain symbolic links to sites that are ready to receive traffic:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nsudo mkdir \/etc\/httpd\/sites-available \/etc\/httpd\/sites-enabled<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nNow, you need to instruct the HTTP server to find virtual hosts in the sites-enabled<\/code> directory. To do this, modify the main Apache configuration file by running the following command:<\/p>\n\n\n\nsudo vi \/etc\/httpd\/conf\/httpd.conf<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThen, move the cursor to the very end of the file and add the following lines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
# Supplemental configuration\n#\n# Load config files in the \"\/etc\/httpd\/conf.d\" directory, if any.\nIncludeOptional conf.d\/*.conf\nIncludeOptional sites-enabled\/*.conf\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nNow, it\u2019s time to create the virtual host configuration file:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo vi \/etc\/httpd\/sites-available\/example.com.conf<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nIn this file, add the following configuration:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<VirtualHost *:80>\n ServerName www.example.com\n ServerAlias example.com\n DocumentRoot \/var\/www\/example.com\/html\n ErrorLog \/var\/www\/example.com\/log\/error.log\n CustomLog \/var\/www\/example.com\/log\/requests.log combined\n<\/VirtualHost>\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nMake sure to replace example.com with your actual domain name. This configuration tells the web server where to find the site\u2019s root directory and where to store the error and access logs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After saving and closing the file, you need to activate the virtual host by creating a symbolic link for the domain in the sites-enabled<\/code> directory:<\/p>\n\n\n\nsudo ln -s \/etc\/httpd\/sites-available\/example.com.conf \/etc\/httpd\/sites-enabled\/example.com.conf<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nAt this point, the configuration is complete, and the host is ready to function. However, before restarting the web server, it\u2019s a good idea to check if the SELinux module is correctly handling requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 6: Configuring Permissions in SELinux<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe SELinux (Security-Enhanced Linux) module enhances the operating system’s security. CentOS comes with a preconfigured SELinux package that works with Apache. However, since we’ve made changes, starting the web server services might result in an error. To resolve this, you need to adjust SELinux policies for Apache. There are two ways to adjust these policies: a universal approach and a folder-specific approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Option 1: Universal Approach<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\nThis method allows the SELinux security module to use any Apache processes via the httpd_unified boolean variable. It\u2019s convenient but doesn\u2019t allow separate policies for individual directories and files. To enable the universal policy, run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo setsebool -P httpd_unified 1<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThe setsebool command is used to modify boolean values, and the -P flag ensures that the change is persistent across reboots. In this case, the httpd_unified boolean is activated with the value 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Option 2: Adjusting SELinux Policies for Specific Directories<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\nThis approach requires more steps but allows for more granular control over permissions for each directory or file. You\u2019ll need to specify the context type for each new folder manually. For example, to check the parameters of the \/var\/www\/example.com\/log<\/code> directory, run:<\/p>\n\n\n\nsudo ls -dlZ \/var\/www\/example.com\/log\/<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nYou\u2019ll see something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root unconfined_u:object_r:httpd_sys_content_t:s0 6 Nov 07 09:01 \/var\/www\/example.com\/log\/<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nYou can see that the context used is httpd_sys_content_t<\/code>, meaning Apache can only read files placed in this folder. To change the context to httpd_log_t<\/code> so that the web server can write to log files, run:<\/p>\n\n\n\nsudo semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_log_t \"\/var\/www\/example.com\/log(\/.*)?\"<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThis command will set the correct context for the log directory and its contents, allowing Apache to write log entries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apply the changes using the following command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo restorecon -R -v \/var\/www\/example.com\/log<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThe -R<\/code> flag allows the command to run recursively, updating existing files, and the -v<\/code> flag will display the changes being made. You should see an output like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\nRelabeled \/var\/www\/example.com\/log from unconfined_u:object_r:httpd_sys_content_t:s0 to unconfined_u:object_r:httpd_log_t:s0<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nIf you want to verify that the context type has been updated, check the current status again:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo ls -dlZ \/var\/www\/example.com\/log\/<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThe output should look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root unconfined_u:object_r:httpd_log_t:s0 6 Nov 07 09:01 \/var\/www\/example.com\/log\/<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nStep 7: Testing the Virtual Host<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAfter adjusting the SELinux permissions, the Apache server should now be able to write data to the \/var\/www\/example.com\/log<\/code> directory. Let\u2019s restart the Apache service:<\/p>\n\n\n\nsudo systemctl restart httpd<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nNext, list the contents of the \/var\/www\/example.com\/log<\/code> directory to verify that the system has created the log files:<\/p>\n\n\n\nls -lZ \/var\/www\/example.com\/log<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nYou should see output similar to this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root system_u:object_r:httpd_log_t:s0 0 Nov 07 09:06 error.log\n-rw-r--r--. 1 root root system_u:object_r:httpd_log_t:s0 0 Nov 07 09:06 requests.log<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThe first line confirms the existence of the error.log<\/code> file, and the second confirms the presence of the requests.log<\/code> file.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNow, you can check the functionality of the domain through a browser. You should see a message like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Success! The example.com virtual host is working<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThis confirms that the virtual host has been successfully set up and is serving content. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for each new site, replacing the domain with the appropriate one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\nIn this tutorial, we’ve walked through installing and configuring Apache on CentOS 9, including setting up virtual hosts for multiple domains. We covered installation with dnf, configuring firewall rules, enabling Apache to start on boot, and managing its service using systemctl. We also explored SELinux configuration for proper permissions, ensuring Apache can read and write log files. With these steps, you’ll have a functional web server<\/a> ready to host sites and deploy content<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Apache web server is the most widely used platform for deploying HTTP-based services. Its popularity is due to its support for dynamically loadable modules, compatibility with various file formats, and integration with other software tools. Prerequisites To install the … Continue reading