Enabling Apache Web Server

Introduction

The Apache Web Server is included as a standard package as part of Solaris. It is installed in three new directories:

• /usr/apache
• /var/apache
• /etc/apache

Enabling the Apache Web Server

The Apache web server will not start unless a properly configured http.conf file exists. This file is located under the /etc/apache directory.

When the Apache web server is first installed, there is no httpd.conf file. One must create it by copying the existing httpd.conf-example in the same directory to httpd.conf.

#cd /etc/apache #cp httpd.conf-example httpd.conf

The following minimum edits should be made to the file to support the any dns enviroment where the web server is to be enabled.

httpd.conf

From	To
ServerAdmin	ServerAdmin <admin email address>
#ServerName	ServerName <your server DNS name>

Adding CGI-BIN Capability

Enabling CGI-BIN execution requires that the following changes be made to the httpd.conf file

httpd.conf

From

#AddHandler cgi-script .cgi

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews

To

AddHandler cgi-script .cgi

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews ExecCGI

Create a Web User

Creating a web user is only for security purposes and is not necessary for running the web server.

By default the Apache web server is owned by nobody and belongs to the group nobody. This is defined in the /etc/apache/httpd.conf file. Therefore the user nobody must be able to execute the CGI programs and read and write the files that the programs may require.

q-Status™ is delivered with all files of q-Status™ program are owned by a user called "www" and a group called "www". q-Status™- both assigned as the attribute of 70.

This user should and group should be added to the Solaris system, if it does not already exist. Below is a simple example how this performed.

Edit /etc/passwd entry:

www:x:70:70:World Wide Web Server:/usr/apache:/usr/bin/false

Edit /etc/shadow entry:

www:*LK*:12743::::::

Run the Unix command pwconv after creating the entry in the /etc/passwd file. This will create the "www" entry in the /etc/shadow file with a "x" entry. Change the "x" entry to "*LK*".

Edit /etc/group entry:

www::70:

Make the directory /var/apache/htdocs owned by "www" and the group "www".

Change the ownership and group in the /etc/apache/httpd.conf file from their default values to the new owner and goup.

httpd.conf

From

User nobody

Group nobody

To

User www

Group www

Starting the Web Server

Use the apachectl in the /usr/apache/bin directory to start and stop the web server. To start the web server, as "root" execute the command below with the start option:

#/usr/apache/bin/apachectl start apachectl start: httpd started

If the web server is already running use the restart option instead.

#/usr/apache/bin/apachectl restart /usr/apache/bin/apachectl restart: httpd restarted

If an errors occur when you try to start or restart the web server, you can use the configtest option to check the configuration syntax.

#/usr/apache/bin/apachectl configtest Syntax OK

If no error message occurs, the web server is configured properly.

The ps command can be used to verify that the web server is running

#ps -ef | grep httpd root 268 1 /usr/local/apache/sbin/httpd -f /usr/local/apache/etc/httpd.conf nobody 273 268 /usr/local/apache/sbin/httpd -f /usr/local/apache/etc/httpd.conf nobody 274 268 /usr/local/apache/sbin/httpd -f /usr/local/apache/etc/httpd.conf nobody 276 268 /usr/local/apache/sbin/httpd -f /usr/local/apache/etc/httpd.conf nobody 277 268 /usr/local/apache/sbin/httpd -f /usr/local/apache/etc/httpd.conf nobody 278 268 /usr/local/apache/sbin/httpd -f /usr/local/apache/etc/httpd.conf

Test the the web server by using a web browser and entering the servers IP address, hostname or use localhost (e.g. http://localhost/). This should display the sample Apache page /var/apache/htdocs/index.html.

If the Apache web server startup page does not display, check the "/var/apache/logs/error_log" file to identify errors.

General Security Concerns

You may wish to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the web server by using a basic password protection scheme. Refer to "Directory Authenication (Password) Setup for Apache Web Server".

By default, if a user enters a directory in their web browser of an open directory on your web server that does not contain an index.html file, they will see a listing of files and directories as hyperlinks. CGI program will be executed when a hyperlink is activated, but other files such as text files, data files, images and library files will be downloadable through the users web browser. To prevent unauthorized file downloads from happening, it is a good idea to turn off this capability. This is accomplished by editing the http.conf file. The edit is at the same line where cgi program execution was enabled by adding the "ExecCGI" parameter. In this same line deleting the parameter "Indexes" will disable the directory listing function.

httpd.conf

From

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews ExecCGI

To

Options FollowSymLinks MultiViews ExecCGI