Apache
httpd(8), also known as Apache or Apache2, is one of the oldest and most extensible web servers. It has survived so long precisely because it is so extensible; system administrators have been able to continuously tune and upgrade the server for modern best practices.
Contents
Installation
Most Linux and BSD distributions offer a package for httpd(8), but it will be named differently across systems. The most common names are apache and apache2.
Supporting programs like htpasswd(1) are sometimes split into a separate package named like apache2-utils.
Containers
Docker container images are also available for the current version. The image is available from DockerHub as docker.io/library/httpd (or simply httpd when using docker(1) specifically).
Try:
docker run --detach --name my-apache \ --publish 127.0.0.1:8080:80 \ --mount type=bind,src=/path/to/web/root,dst=/usr/local/apache2/htdocs \ httpd:2.4
Setup
For systemd-capable systems, start and enable httpd.service or apache2.service (again, differing across systems).
For OpenRC-based systems, start the apache2 service and set it to start on boot.
Otherwise try:
service apache2 start #also: stop, restart, and reload
For BSD distributions, try:
/usr/local/sbin/apachectl start #also: stop, restart, and graceful
See apachectl(8) for more information.
To launch the server on startup, update /etc/rc.conf:
apache_enable="YES"
Configuration
Server
The server is configured by a central file. Distributions disagree about the correct location for this file. Try all of the following:
/etc/apache2.conf
/etc/apache2/apache2.conf
/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
/usr/local/etc/apache/httpd.conf
Virtual Hosts
Virtual hosts are declared in domain-specific files. An example site configuration for a CGI script, such as cgit.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
ServerName git.my-domain.com
DocumentRoot /usr/share/cgit
Alias / /usr/share/cgit/cgit.cgi
<Document '/usr/share/cgit/'>
Options ExecCGI FollowSymLinks
Require all granted
AddHandler cgi-script .cgi
DirectoryIndex cgit.cgi
</Document>
ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Encryption
See here for details.
Authentication
A document can be set to require authentication, except for a local network user.
<Document "/">
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Authentication Required"
AuthUserFile /var/www/ftp-htpasswd
<RequireAny>
Require valid-user
Require ip 192.168
Require ip 10
</RequireAny>
</Document>This method of authentication is 'good-enough' for personal uses. It relies entirely on the traffic encryption (HTTPS).
FastCGI
See here for details.