Apache Web Server

                               Apache Web Server

This server was earlier released by name as 'httpd'. When it was made free various people added patches to it Hence it was named as ' A Patchy Server' , later it became apache web server. But the name of service remained same i.e. 'httpd'.

First check that the package is installed on your system for that:

# rpm -qa |grep httpd*

if package is there on your system then check for file '/etc/httpd/httpd.conf '
Edit that file :
# vim /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

This file is divided into 3 sections :
                             Section I

1) ServerTokens OS
it shows information of OS only when server utility is made ON.
2) ServerRoot “/etc/httpd”
This directory contains server's configuration file and log file.
3) ScoreBoardFile run/httpd.scoreboard
when httpd service made ON various processes gets started, these processes are stored in memory. We can make enable this option and take these processes on hard disk.
4) PidFile run/httpd.pid
The information of services (processes) which are started by httpd daemon is stored in this file using the process id.
5) Timeout 300
if the request from client doesnot come within 300 seconds then the connection gets timed out.
6) KeepAlive off
if this option is off thenclient can send only one request at a time. If it is ON then it can send multiple requests.
7) MaxKeepAlieveRequests 100
it decides how many requests can be send using one connection.
8) KeepAlieveTimeOut 15
if on one connection there are 100 requests then each request will be alive for 15 seconds without sending information. That means one connection can remain alive for 15 * 100 = 1500 seconds
9) StartServers = 8
at a time only 8 services can be started.
10) MinSpareServers 5
5 servers are available for spare
11) MaxSpareServers 20
12) MaxClients 150
one server service can handle upto 150 clients
13) MaxRequestsPerChield 1000
every server service can handle 1000 requests.
14) StartServers 2
15) MaxClients 150
16) MinSpareThreads 25
17) MaxSpareThreads 75
18) ThreadsPerChild 25
19) MaxRequestsPerChield 0
20) Listen 0.0.0.0:80
if you are having 3 servers and this option is 0.0.0.0 then services will work on all 3 servers. If you give specific ip address here then services will work on that particular server.
21) LoadModule …...
this is a list of various web services that are required.
22) Include conf.d/*.conf
consider all the parameters in /etc/httpd/conf directory.
23) Extended status ON
If you want to use Additional third party softwares then make this option ON.

                               Section II
24) User apache
25) Group apache
Server uses services using these names ( options 24, 25)
26) ServerAdmin root@localhost
you can show administrators mail id on site. If some one is having queries he will
contact you.
27) ServerName new.host.name:80
here give name of server. This service work on TCP port 80.
28) UseCanonicalName off
it will not show a different name of itself if this is off.
29) DocumentRoot “/var/www/html”
in this directory it will show web page doc's.
30) Options FollowSymLinks
anyone can not access directories directly, if you want it go through links
31) AllowOverride None
no one can change option 30
32) (Directory "/var/www/html") 
this directory is secure
33) Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
       (IfModule  mod_Proxy C) 

if you uncomment all statements below this , then the server acts as a Proxy server. But it is not secure.


                 Section III : Virtual Hosts
this section is used to prepare website.
1) NameVirtualHost *:80
Using this option we can open multiple web pages on single ip address. It can access the site as per URL name.
2) (VirtualHost *)
replace * by hostname.
i.e. Virtual Host www.Redhat.com

if you want to test it …. then exit by making changes and give command
# service httpd start
and open mozill and give URL as
http://(ip address of your machine)
you will see the apache version information and redhat page.

Now Edit /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file

NameVirtualHost = 80 (remove comment)
and make it as NameVirtualHost ipaddress_of_your_machine:80
at the end of the file write... i.e. below (VirtualHost)
(VIrtualHost www.rediffmail.com)
ServerAdmin root@your_Hostname.com
DocumentRoot /webdocs
ServerName your_hostname
ErrorLog /logs/rediffmail-error_log
CustomLog /logs/rediffmail-custom_log common
(/VirtualHost)

then change
DirectoryIndex index.html (your web page)

save and Exit

edit /etc/hosts file

at the end type
(your ip address) (your host name)

save and Exit
# service network restart
# service httpd restart

then login as root
open mozill
give URL www.rediffmail.com

you will get document stored in /webdocs folder.

You can do it for multiple sites also for that only few changes in 'httpd.conf and hosts' file are needed.