Install and Configure Apache Web Server on Ubuntu 20.04

Introduction

The Apache HTTP server is the most widely-used web server in the world. In this guide, we’ll explain how to install an Apache web server on your Ubuntu 20.04 server.

Prerequisites

Before you begin this guide, you should have a regular, non-root user with sudo privileges configured on your server.

Step 1  Installing Apache

Let’s begin by updating the local package index to reflect the latest changes:

  • sudo apt update

Now, install the apache2 package:

  • sudo apt install apache2

 

Step 2  Adjust the Firewall

Before testing Apache, it’s necessary to modify the firewall settings to allow outside access to the default web ports.

  • sudo ufw allow Apache

You can verify the change by typing:

  • sudo ufw status

The output will provide a list of allowed HTTP traffic:

Output
Status: active

To                         Action      From
--                         ------      ----
OpenSSH                    ALLOW       Anywhere                  
Apache                     ALLOW       Anywhere                
OpenSSH (v6)               ALLOW       Anywhere (v6)             
Apache (v6)                ALLOW       Anywhere (v6)

As indicated by the output, the profile has been activated to allow access to the Apache web server.

 

Step 3 — Checking your Web Server

At the end of the installation process, Ubuntu 20.04 starts Apache. The web server should already be up and running.

test by entering your ip address or domain name if configured.

 

https://youripaddress

 

If you do not know your IP address type sudo hostname -i

This page indicates that Apache is working correctly.

Step 4  Managing

Now that you have your web server up and running, Here are some basic management commands using systemctl.

To stop your web server, type:

  • sudo systemctl stop apache2
 

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

  • sudo systemctl start apache2
 

To stop and then start the service again, type:

  • sudo systemctl restart apache2
 

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

  • sudo systemctl reload apache2
 

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

  • sudo systemctl disable apache2
 

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

  • sudo systemctl enable apache2
 

Apache Files and Directories

Now that you know how to manage Apache itself, here are a few important directories and files.

Content

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

Server Configuration

  • /etc/apache2: The Apache configuration directory. All of the Apache configuration files reside here.
  • /etc/apache2/apache2.conf: The main Apache configuration file. This can be modified to make changes to the Apache global 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 that Apache will listen on. By default, Apache listens on port 80 and additionally listens on port 443 when a module providing SSL capabilities is enabled.
  • /etc/apache2/sites-available/: The directory where per-site virtual hosts can be stored. Apache will not use the configuration files found in this directory unless they are linked to the sites-enabled directory. Typically, all server block configuration is done in this directory, and then enabled by linking to the other directory with the a2ensite command.
  • /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/: The directory where enabled per-site virtual hosts are stored. Typically, these are created by linking to configuration files found in the sites-available directory with the a2ensite. Apache reads the configuration files and links found in this directory when it starts or reloads to compile a complete configuration.
  • /etc/apache2/conf-available/, /etc/apache2/conf-enabled/: These directories have the same relationship as the sites-available and sites-enabled directories, but are used to store configuration fragments that do not belong in a virtual host. Files in the conf-available directory can be enabled with the a2enconf command and disabled with the a2disconf command.
  • /etc/apache2/mods-available/, /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/: These directories contain the available and enabled modules, respectively. Files ending in .load contain fragments to load specific modules, while files ending in .conf contain the configuration for those modules. Modules can be enabled and disabled using the a2enmod and a2dismod command.

Server Logs

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