Installing Apache - Administration

Now we will install Apache. Assuming you downloaded it into /tmp, do the following (note you probably shouldn't be root while doing this):

$ cd /tmp
$ tar -zvxf apache_1.3.6.tar.gz
$ cd apache_1.3.6
$ ./configure --sysconfdir=/etc/httpd 
--datadir=/home/httpd 
--logfiledir=/var/log/httpd 
--enable-module=most 
--enable-shared=max 
--disable-rule=WANTHSREGEX

This tells Apache to store it's configuration files in /etc/httpd. The data files directories (HTML documents, CGI-BIN directory) will be rooted in /home/httpd. Next, we tell Apache we want most of the modules enabled, and that they should be built as DSO modules.

DSO stands for Dynamic Shared Object. By compiling Apache with DSO support, you are able to add and remove modules from Apache without having to recompile it. This is really handy, read all about it at the Apache DSO page (http://www.apache.org/docs/dso.html), if you're interested.

Next thing to do is to compile this thing. Do this by running make:

$ make

That should take a little while. When it finishes, you'll have to su to root to copy the files to their final destinations:

$ su
# make install

If all goes well, you should see a bunch of messages tell you some information about Apache and how it was installed on your computer.

Starting from Apache 1.3.4, the three configuration files: srm.conf, httpd.conf, and access.conf have been consolidated into httpd.conf. Naturally, this carries on to 1.3.6, so load it into your favorite editor and change these directives:

Port 80
DirectoryIndex index.html index.shtml index.cgi index.php3
AddType application/x-httpd-php3 .php3
AddType application/x-httpd-php3-source .phps

Scan through the files and change any other directives that you feel should be changed. For detailed information about the directives, visit the Apache Website and look at the server documentation.

Run this to start Apache:

# /usr/local/bin/apachectl start

If it said that Apache was started, you should be able to use any web browser to connect to your box. If all goes well, you will see a Welcome to Apache page. Also, check that the httpd processes are running:

# ps ax | grep httpd

or

# ps -ef | grep httpd

depending on your flavour of Unix. You should see a bunch of processes like:

14362 ? S 0:00 /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd
14364 ? S 0:00 /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd
14365 ? S 0:00 /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd
14366 ? S 0:00 /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd
14367 ? S 0:00 /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd
14368 ? S 0:00 /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd

Now let's turn off Apache and install PHP.

# /usr/local/bin/apachectl stop

As with MySQL, you probably want to add an entry in one of your system startup files to fire up Apache when your system boots up.