Introduction
The most used web server worldwide is the Apache HTTP server. Dynamically loadable modules, strong media support, and wide interface with other well-known software are just a few of its many potent features.
You will discover how to set up an Apache web server on your Ubuntu server in this tutorial.
Install Apache Web Server on Ubuntu
Table of Contents
Step 1 — Installing Apache
Apache is available within Ubuntu’s default software repositories, making it possible to install it using conventional package management tools.
Begin by updating the local package index to reflect the latest upstream changes:
sudo apt update
Then, install the apache2 package:
sudo apt install apache2
After confirming the installation, apt will install Apache and all required dependencies.
Step 2 — Adjusting the Firewall
Before testing Apache, it’s necessary to modify the firewall settings to allow outside access to the default web ports. If you followed the instructions in the prerequisites, you should have a UFW firewall configured to restrict access to your server.
During installation, Apache registers itself with UFW to provide a few application profiles that can be used to enable or disable access to Apache through the firewall.
List the ufw application profiles by running the following:
sudo ufw app list
Your output will be a list of the application profiles:
OutputAvailable applications: Apache Apache Full Apache Secure OpenSSH
As indicated by the output, there are three profiles available for Apache:
Apache: This profile opens only port80(normal, unencrypted web traffic)Apache Full: This profile opens both port80(normal, unencrypted web traffic) and port443(TLS/SSL encrypted traffic)Apache Secure: This profile opens only port443(TLS/SSL encrypted traffic)
It is recommended that you enable the most restrictive profile that will still allow the traffic you’ve configured. Since you haven’t configured SSL for your server yet in this guide, you’ll only need to allow traffic on port 80:
sudo ufw allow 'Apache'
You can verify the change by checking the status:
sudo ufw status
The output will provide a list of allowed HTTP traffic:
OutputStatus: active To Action From -- ------ ---- OpenSSH ALLOW Anywhere Apache ALLOW Anywhere OpenSSH (v6) ALLOW Anywhere (v6) Apache (v6) ALLOW Anywhere (v6)
As indicated by the output, the profile has been activated to allow access to the Apache web server.
Step 3 — Checking your Web Server
At the end of the installation process, Ubuntu starts Apache. The web server will already be up and running.
Make sure the service is active by running the command for the systemd init system:
sudo systemctl status apache2
Output● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor prese> Active: active (running) since Tue 2022-04-26 15:33:21 UTC; 43s ago Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/ Main PID: 5089 (apache2) Tasks: 55 (limit: 1119) Memory: 4.8M CPU: 33ms CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service ├─5089 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start ├─5091 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start └─5092 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
As confirmed by this output, the service has started successfully. However, the best way to test this is to request a page from Apache.
You can access the default Apache landing page to confirm that the software is running properly through your IP address. If you do not know your server’s IP address, you can get it a few different ways from the command line.
Try writing the following at your server’s command prompt:
hostname -I
You will receive a few addresses separated by spaces. You can try each in your web browser to determine if they work.
Another option is to use the free icanhazip.com tool. This is a website that, when accessed, returns your machine’s public IP address as read from another location on the internet:
curl -4 icanhazip.com
When you have your server’s IP address, enter it into your browser’s address bar:
http://your_server_ip
You will see the default Ubuntu Apache web page as in the following:
This page indicates that Apache is working correctly. It also includes some basic information about important Apache files and directory locations.
Step 4 — Managing the Apache Process
Now that you have your web server up and running, let’s review some basic management commands using systemctl.
To stop your web server, run:
sudo systemctl stop apache2
To start the web server when it is stopped, run:
sudo systemctl start apache2
To stop and then start the service again, run:
sudo systemctl restart apache2
If you are simply making configuration changes, Apache can often reload without dropping connections. To do this, use the following command:
sudo systemctl reload apache2
By default, Apache is configured to start automatically when the server boots. If this is not what you want, disable this behavior by running:
sudo systemctl disable apache2
To re-enable the service to start up at boot, run:
sudo systemctl enable apache2
Apache will now start automatically when the server boots again.
Step 5 — Setting Up Virtual Hosts (Recommended)
When utilizing the Apache web server, you can host several domains from a single server and encapsulate configuration data using virtual hosts, which are comparable to server blocks in Nginx. You should use your own domain name in place of the one we will set up, your_domain.
Apache on Ubuntu has one server block enabled by default that is configured to serve documents from the /var/www/html directory. While this works well for a single site, it can become unwieldy if you are hosting multiple sites. Instead of modifying /var/www/html, create a directory structure within /var/www for a your_domain site, leaving /var/www/html in place as the default directory to be served if a client request doesn’t match any other sites.
Create the directory for your_domain as follows:
sudo mkdir /var/www/your_domain
Next, assign ownership of the directory to the user you’re currently signed in as with the $USER environment variable:
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/your_domain
Unless you have changed your umask value, which determines default file permissions, your web root’s permissions should be correct. You can enter the following command to make sure your permissions are accurate and let the owner access, write, and execute the files while giving groups and other users only read and execute capabilities:
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/your_domain
Next, create a sample index.html page using nano or your favorite editor:
sudo nano /var/www/your_domain/index.html
Inside, add the following sample HTML:
/var/www/your_domain/index.html
<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome to Your_domain!</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Success! The your_domain virtual host is working!</h1>
</body>
</html>
Save and close the file when you are finished. If you’re using nano, you can do this by pressing CTRL + X, then Y and ENTER.
In order for Apache to serve this content, it’s necessary to create a virtual host file with the correct directives. Instead of modifying the default configuration file located at /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf directly, make a new one at /etc/apache2/sites-available/your_domain.conf:
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/your_domain.conf
Add in the following configuration block, which is similar to the default, but updated for your new directory and domain name:
/etc/apache2/sites-available/your_domain.conf
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
ServerName your_domain
ServerAlias www.your_domain
DocumentRoot /var/www/your_domain
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Notice that we’ve updated the DocumentRoot to our new directory and ServerAdmin to an email that the your_domain site administrator can access. We’ve also added two directives: ServerName, which establishes the base domain that will match this virtual host definition, and ServerAlias, which defines further names that will match as if they were the base name.
Save and close the file when you are finished.
Now enable the file with the a2ensite tool:
sudo a2ensite your_domain.conf
Disable the default site defined in 000-default.conf:
sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf
Next, test for configuration errors:
sudo apache2ctl configtest
You should receive the following output:
Output. . . Syntax OK
Restart Apache to implement your changes:
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Apache will now be serving your domain name. You can test this by navigating to http://your_domain, where you will see something like the following:
Step 6 – Getting Familiar with Important Apache Files and Directories
Conclusion
Now that you have your web server installed, you have many options for the type of content you can serve and the technologies you can use to create a richer experience.