How To Install Apache Web Server on Debian 10 | digital ocean (2023)

Introduction

Apache HTTP server is the most widely used web server in the world. It provides many powerful features including dynamically loadable modules, strong media support, and extensive integration with other popular software.

In this guide, we will explain how to install an Apache web server on your Debian 10 server.

previous requirements

Before starting this guide, you should have a normal non-root user with sudo privileges configured on your server. Also, you will need to enable a basic firewall to block non-essential ports. You can learn how to set up a regular user account and set up a firewall for your server by following ourinitial server setup guide for debian 10.

Once you have an account available, log in as your non-root user to get started.

Step 1: Installing Apache

Apache is available in the standard Debian software repositories, which allows it to be installed using conventional package management tools.

Let's start by updating the local package index to reflect the latest upstream changes:

sudo fitupdate

Then install theapache2package:

sudo fit installapache2

After confirming the installation,fitit will install apache and all necessary dependencies.

Step 2: Adjust the firewall

Before trying Apache, you should modify your firewall settings to allow external access to standard web ports. Assuming you've followed the prerequisite instructions, you should have a UFW firewall configured to restrict access to your server.

During installation, Apache registers with the UFW to provide some application profiles that can be used to enable or disable access to Apache through the firewall.

enumerate theufwapplication profiles by typing:

sudoufw app list

You will see a list of application profiles:

Salida
Available applications: AIM Bonjour CIFS. . . WWW WWW Full WWW Cache Secure WWW. . .

Apache profiles begin with WWW:

• WWW: This profile only opens port 80 (normal, unencrypted web traffic)
• Hidden- This profile only opens port 8080 (sometimes used for caching and web proxies)
• full www: This profile opens port 80 (normal, unencrypted web traffic) and port 443 (TLS/SSL encrypted traffic)
• insurance www: This profile only opens port 443 (TLS/SSL encrypted traffic)

We recommend enabling the most restrictive profile which will continue to allow the traffic you configured. Since we haven't configured SSL for our server yet in this guide, we'll only need to allow traffic on port 80:

sudough let me'WWW'

You can verify the change by typing:

sudoufw status

You should see the allowed HTTP traffic in the displayed output:

Salida
Status: activaPara Acción Since-- ------ ----OpenSSH ALLOW AnywhereWWW ALLOW AnywhereOpenSSH (v6) ALLOW Anywhere (v6)WWW (v6) ALLOW Anywhere (v6)

As you can see, the profile has been activated to allow access to the web server.

Step 3: Checking your web server

At the end of the installation process, Debian 10 starts Apache. The web server should now be up and running.

check with himsysteminit to make sure the service is running by typing:

sudosystemctl status apache2

Salida
● apache2.service: The Apache HTTP server Loaded: Loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; Vendor default: enabled) Active: active (running) since 7/19/2019 3:33 AM :01 p.m. m. UTC ; 4 min 13 s ago Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/. . Jul 19 3:33:01 debssh systemd[1]: Starting Apache HTTP server... Jul 19 3:33:01 debssh apachectl[2791]: AH00558: apache2: could not reliably determine hostname full server domain, using 127.0. 1.1. Set directive 'ServerName' globalJul 19 15:33:01 debssh systemd[1]: Started Apache HTTP server.

As you can see in this output, the service appears to have started successfully. However, the best way to test this is to request an Apache page.

You can access Apache's default home page to confirm that the software is running correctly through your IP address. If you don't know the IP address of your server, you can get it in different ways from the command line.

Try typing this at your server's command prompt:

host name -UE

You will get some addresses separated by spaces. You can try each one in your web browser to see if they work.

An alternative is to use thecurlingtool, which is supposed to give you your public IP address as seen from anywhere else on the Internet.

First, installcurlingusingfit:

sudo fit install curling

so usecurlingrecovericanhazip.comusing IPv4:

curling -4icanhazip.com

Once you have your server's IP address, enter it in your browser's address bar:

http://your_server_ip

You should see the Debian 10 Apache default web page:

This page indicates that Apache is working correctly. It also includes basic information about important Apache files and directory locations.

Step 4: Manage the Apache process

Now that you have your web server up and running, let's look at some basic administration commands.

To stop your web server, type:

sudosystemctl parar apache2

To start the web server when it is stopped, type:

sudosystemctl iniciar apache2

To stop and start the service again, type:

sudosystemctl reiniciar apache2

If you are simply making configuration changes, Apache can reload without breaking connections. To do this, use this command:

sudosystemctl recargar apache2

By default, Apache is configured to start automatically when the server starts. If this is not what you want, disable this behavior by typing:

sudosystemctl desavar apache2

To re-enable the service to start at startup, type:

sudosystemctlto allowapache2

Apache should now start automatically when the server is restarted.

Step 5: Configuring virtual hosts (recommended)

When using Apache web server, you can usevirtual hosts(similar to server blocks in Nginx) to encapsulate configuration details and host more than one domain from a single server. In the following commands,to replace your domain with your own domain name. For more information on how to set up a domain name with DigitalOcean, please see ourIntroduction to Digital Ocean DNS.

Apache on Debian 10 has a server block enabled by default which is configured to serve/var/www/htmldirectory. While this works fine for a single site, it can get cumbersome if you host multiple sites. instead of modifying/var/www/html, we are going to create a directory structure inside/var/wwwfor usyour domainlocal, leaving/var/www/htmlin effect, as the default directory to be served if a client's request does not match any other site.

Create the directory foryour domainas follows, using the-pageflag to create the required parent directories:

sudo mkdir -page/var/www/your domain

Then assign ownership of the directory with the$USERenvironmental variable:

sudo Chon -R $USER:$USER/var/www/your domain

Your web root permissions should be correct if you have not modified yourunmaskvalue, but you can be sure by typing:

sudo chmod -R 755/var/www/your domain

Then create a sampleindex.htmlpage usingnanoyour favorite editor:

nano/var/www/your domain/index.html

Inside, add the following sample HTML:

/var/www/seu_dominio/index.html

<html> <head> <title>Bienvenido ayour domain!</title> </head> <body> <h1>¡Éxito! Oyour domainvirtual server is working!</h1> </body></html>

Save and close the file when finished.

In order for Apache to serve this content, you must create a virtual host file with the correct directives. Instead of modifying the default configuration file located at/etc/apache2/sitios-disponibles/000-default.confdirectly, let's make a new one in/etc/apache2/sites-available/your domain.conf:

sudo nano/etc/apache2/sites-available/your domain.conf

Paste the following configuration block, which is similar to the default but updated for our new directory and domain name:

/etc/apache2/sitios-disponibles/su_dominio.conf

<Virtual Host *:80> Server Manageradmin@your_email_domainserver nameyour domainServerAliaswww.your_domainDocumentRoot /var/www/your domainErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combinado</VirtualHost>

Please note that we have updated thedocument rootto our new directory andserver administratorto an email thatyour domainsite administrator can access. We also add two directives:server name, which sets the base domain that should match this virtual host definition, andServerAlias, which defines other names that must match as if they were the base name.

Save and close the file when finished.

Let's enable the file with thea2ensitetool:

sudoa2ensiteyour domain.conf

Disable the default site set to000-default.conf:

sudoa2dissite 000-default.conf

Next, let's test the configuration errors:

sudoapache2ctl configuration test

You should see the following output:

Salida
AH00558: Apache2: Cannot reliably determine the fully qualified domain name of the server using 127.0.1.1. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this messageSyntax OK

Restart Apache to implement your changes:

sudosystemctl reiniciar apache2

Apache should now be serving your domain name. You can test this by navigating tohttp://your domain, where you should see something like this:

Step 6: Familiarize yourself with important Apache files and directories

Now that you know how to administer the Apache service, take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with some important directories and files.

Feliz

• /var/www/html: The actual web content, which by default consists only of the default Apache page you saw earlier, is served outside of/var/www/htmldirectory. This can be changed by changing the Apache configuration files.

server settings

• /etc/apache2: The Apache configuration directory. All Apache configuration files reside here.
• /etc/apache2/apache2.conf: The main Apache configuration file. This can be modified to make changes to the global Apache configuration. This file is responsible for loading many of the other files in the configuration directory.
• /etc/apache2/ports.conf: This file specifies the ports on which Apache will listen. By default, Apache listens on port 80 and additionally listens on port 443 when a module that provides SSL capabilities is enabled.
• /etc/apache2/sites-available/: The directory where the virtual hosts per site can be stored. Configuration files in this directory will not be used by Apache unless they are linked tosite enableddirectory. Usually all configuration of the server block is done in this directory and then enabled by linking to the other directory with thea2ensitedomain.
• /etc/apache2/enabled sites/: The directory where the virtual hosts enabled for the site are stored. They are usually created via links to configuration files found in theavailable sitesdirectory with thea2ensite. Apache reads the configuration files and links found in this directory when it starts or reloads to create a complete configuration.
• /etc/apache2/conf-disponible/,/etc/apache2/conf-enabled/: These directories have the same relationship as theavailable sitesmisite enableddirectories, but they are used to store configuration fragments that do not belong to a virtual host. files inconf-availableThe directory can be activated with thea2enconfcommand and deactivated with thea2disconfdomain.
• /etc/apache2/mods-disponible/,/etc/apache2/mods-enabled/: These directories contain the available and enabled modules, respectively. files ending in.carrycontain fragments to load specific modules, while files ending in.confcontains the configuration for these modules. Modules can be enabled and disabled using thea2enmodmia2dismoddomain.

server logs

• /var/log/apache2/access.log: By default, all requests to your web server are logged to this log file unless Apache is configured to do otherwise.
• /var/log/apache2/error.log: By default, all errors are logged to this file. EITHERlog levelThe directive in the Apache configuration specifies how much detail the error logs will contain.

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.

If you want to build a more complete application stack, check out this article onhow to set up a LAMP stack on Debian 10.