How To Install Apache HTTP Web Server On Ubuntu

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INTRODUCTION

Apache Web Server is an open source software package. This means it can be used freely without requiring any purchases.
The official name is Apache HTTP Server.

It is a software package that turns a computer into an HTTP web server. This means that it sends web pages stored as HTML files to users who request them on the internet.

It runs on 67% of all web servers in the world. It is fast, reliable and secure. It can be highly customized to meet the needs of different environments using modules and extensions.

This guide will help you install the Apache Web Server on Ubuntu.

Prerequisites

• A computer running Ubuntu Operating System 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver)
• Good/stable Internet Connection
• A user account with sudo or root privilege

Tools Needed

• Terminal or Command line (Ctrl + Alt + T)
• A firewall. The default Ubuntu Firewall is okay. (UFW - Uncomplicated Firewall)
• The apt package manager which is installed by default on Ubuntu.

Installation Procedure

Before installing new software, it is necessary to update your local software package database in order to ensure that you are accessing the latest versions.

It helps prevent zero day exploits against outdated software and also saves on the time used to update after installation.

Open the terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) or right click on the desktop and click open terminal and type the following command:

 sudo apt-get update  

Wait for the package manager to finish updating. Shouldn't take long

Install Apache 

Install the Apache package on Ubuntu using the following command:

 sudo apt-get install apache2 -y  

Verify Apache installation

Open a web browser and type in the address bar

 http://local.server.ip  

Replace the local.server.ip with the IP address of your server. To get the IP address of your server, type the folowing command exactly as it is into your terminal or command line

 hostname -I | awk '{print $1}'  

The resulting output will be your server's IP address

For example 192.168.0.1

The web browser should open the Apache2 Ubuntu Default Page.

Configure Your Firewall

At this point, the Apache installation process is complete.

This additional step configures the default UFW firewall to allow traffic

on port 80

First, display the available app profiles on UFW

Type the following into your terminal or command line        

 sudo ufw app list  

The output should be a list of all available application profiles as shown

below List shown varies with kind of apps installed on your computer

Use the following command to allow normal web traffic on port 80

 sudo ufw allow 'Apache'  

Verify the changes by checking the UFW status

 sudo ufw status  

If the status shows inactive. The firewall is not enabled. Use the following

command to enable it

 sudo ufw enable  

Then run

 sudo ufw status  

again. It should show active status as in the 

image above.

If you have other applications or services to allow,make sure you 

configure your firewall to allow traffic.

For example, using the 
 sudo ufw allow 'OpenSSH'  

ensures secure encrypted logins over the network.
The Apache Service on Ubuntu is now up and running





Apache Configuration

Apache Service Controls

It is helpful to have some level of control over the Apache Service while 

managing it.
This is necessary because you'll be reloading and restarting Apache quit
frequently as you make configuration changes and test them.
You also need to know how to start and stop Apache service as needed.
This operation uses the systemctl command with a series of switches
Start Apache

 sudo systemctl start apache2.service  



Stop Apache

 sudo systemctl stop apache2.service  


Restart Apache

 sudo systemctl restart apache2.service  


Reload Apache

 sudo systemctl reload apache2.service  


Apache Configuration Files, Directories and Modules

To make content available online, you need to know how to configure 
files, directories and modules.
Directories

By default, Apache creates a document root directory at 

 /var/www/html  



Any files placed into this directory are available to Apache to distribute


over the network.


This is therefore the place where you copy the web page files that you


want to publish.


This is also where you install content management systems such as


WordPress.


Configuration Files


Now that we know that web content is stored in the /var/www/html 


directory, we can create sub directories within this location for each 


different website hosted on your server.


Apache creates log files for any errors it generates in the file 


/var/log/apache2/access.log.


It also creates access logs for its interactions with clients in the file 


/var/log/apache2/access.log


Apache functions through the use of configuration files just like many 


other Linux-based applications


They are located in the /etc/apache2/ directory


A list of other essential directories include:




/etc/apache2/apache2.conf - This is the main Apache configuration file and controls everything Apache does on your system.Changes done here affect all the websites hosted on the machine.
/etc/apache2/ports.conf - This is the ports configuration file. You can use it to customize the ports Apache monitors. Port 80 is configured for HTTP traffic by default.
/etc/apache2/sites-available - This is a storage for Apache virtual host files. A virtual host allows one to run more than website on a single machine.
/etc/apache2/sites-enabled - This directory holds websites that are ready to serve clients. The a2ensite command is used on a virtual host file in the sites-available directory to add sites to this location. 
 More details on directories and configuration files are in the Apache Ubuntu Documentation


Modules

These are applications that enhance or expand the functionality of Apache.


You can enable these software modules use the following command

 sudo a2enmod name_of_module  


Disable the module using

 sudo a2dismod name_of_module  



If this guide was helpful or you encountered any problems 


please leave a comment below