Chapter 13. Apache

The Apache product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org).

The Apache HTTP server is a robust and commercial-grade open source Web server used by the majority of websites on the Internet. The Red Hat Linux distribution includes Apache, as well as a number of additional modules which are designed to enhance the functionality of the server and add strong encryption capabilities. Apache's default configuration should work for most users. You may never need to change any of Apache's configuration directives. If you do want to change any of the default configuration options, you will need to know what some of the options are and where to find them. This chapter covers how to use and configure the Apache Web server.

WarningWarning
 

If you plan to use the Apache Configuration Tool (apacheconf), a GUI utility provided with Red Hat Linux, do not edit your Apache Web server's httpd.conf configuration file. Conversely, if you want to edit httpd.conf by hand, do not use the Apache Configuration Tool.

If you need more information on the Apache Configuration Tool, please see the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide.

After you have installed the apache package, the Apache Web server's documentation is available at http://your_domain/manual/ or you can use the Apache documentation available on the Web at http://httpd.apache.org/docs/. The Apache Web server's documentation contains a full list and complete descriptions of all of Apache's configuration options. For your convenience, this chapter provides short descriptions of the configuration directives used in the version of Apache provided with Red Hat Linux.

The version of Apache included with Red Hat Linux includes the ability to set up secure Web servers using the strong SSL encryption provided by the mod_ssl and OpenSSL packages. When you are reading your Web server's configuration file, be aware that it includes both a non-secure and a secure Web server. The secure Web server runs as a virtual host, which is also configured in the httpd.conf file. For more information about virtual hosts, see the section called Using Virtual Hosts.

NoteNote
 

We do not include FrontPage extensions. The Microsoft™ license prohibits the inclusion of the extensions in a third party product. To find out more about FrontPage extensions, refer to http://www.rtr.com/fpsupport/.

Default Modules

Apache is distributed with a number of modules. By default the following modules are installed and enabled with the Apache package on Red Hat Linux:

mod_vhost_alias
mod_env
mod_log_config
mod_log_agent
mod_log_referer
mod_mime
mod_negotiation
mod_status
mod_info
mod_include
mod_autoindex
mod_dir
mod_cgi
mod_asis
mod_imap
mod_actions
mod_userdir
mod_alias
mod_rewrite
mod_access
mod_auth
mod_auth_db
mod_expires
mod_headers
mod_setenvif
mod_so

The following modules are installed but disabled (see the section called Adding Modules to Your Server):

mod_mmap_static
mod_mime_magic
mod_speling
mod_auth_anon
mod_define
mod_auth_dbm
mod_auth_db
mod_digest
mod_proxy
mod_cern_meta
mod_usertrack
mod_example
mod_unique_id

The following modules are available by installing additional packages:

mod_ssl
mod_auth_any
mod_auth_mysql
mod_auth_pgsql
mod_bandwidth
mod_dav
mod_perl
mod_php4
mod_put
mod_python
mod_roaming
mod_throttle