Httpd RHEL Compilation

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Internal

Overview

This is the Apache httpd compilation/installation procedure. It implies that httpd is compiled from source. If you plan to install httpd with yum, go directly to yum installation.

Procedure

Download

Download from http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi and optionally place in the local archive directory.

wget http://mirror.cogentco.com/pub/apache//httpd/httpd-2.4.25.tar.gz

Older releases may not be on mirrors, but they can be downloaded directly from the apache web site: http://archive.apache.org/dist/httpd.

Extract

The sources can be extracted as a non-root user.

cd src
gunzip < ../archive/httpd-2.2.17.tar.gz | tar xfv -  

Configure Compilation

Compilation can be configured as a non-root user.

cd httpd-2.2.17
./configure \
  --prefix /opt/httpd-2.2.17[-worker] \
  --enable-so \
  --enable-expires=shared \
  --with-included-apr

Compilation Configuration Notes

  • It is a good idea to compile httpd with shared module option enabled (--enable-so --enable-expires=shared).
  • configure may complain about not finding APR. I worked around this by using --with-included-apr in configure configuration.

SSL Compilation

If you need SSL, compile the latest OpenSSL (see [OpenSSL#Compilation]) and then

...
--enable-ssl 
--with-ssl=/data/openssl-1.0.2/
...

If you use SSL, when running httpd, you need to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH to point to the OpenSSL lib directory:

LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/data/openssl-1.0.2/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Various Module Configuration Requirements

Cleaning configuration

The only option I discovered so far is to completely remove the source tree. I am sure others exist ... if I find them, add them here.

Configuration Examples

Example 1

Version 2.2.15

./configure --prefix=/cust/soe/opt/apache/2.2.15_without_mod_proxy 
            --enable-logio 
            --disable-proxy 
            --enable-rewrite 
            --enable-ssl 
            --enable-vhost-alias 
            --enable-headers 
            --enable-dav 
            --enable-dav-fs 
            --enable-modules=ssl 
            --with-ssl=/cust/soe/opt/openssl/1.0.0/ 
            --with-included-apr 
            --enable-dav-lock 
            --enable-deflate 
            --enable-so 
            --with-mpm=worker 

We disabled mod_proxy so we can use the version included in mod_cluster.

Example 2

We use mod_proxy:

#!/bin/bash

$(dirname $0)/configure \
 --prefix /data/httpd-2.2.29-worker-mpm \
 --enable-so \
 --with-included-apr \
 --enable-expires=shared \
 --with-mpm=worker \
 --enable-proxy \
 --enable-proxy-connect \
 --enable-proxy-http \
 --enable-proxy-ajp \
 --enable-proxy-balancer \
 --disable-cgi \
 --enable-ssl \
 --with-ssl=/data/openssl-1.0.2

mod_cluster Recommended Configuration

1. Apply http://anonsvn.jboss.org/repos/mod_cluster/trunk/native/mod_proxy_cluster/mod_proxy_ajp.patch (optional).

2. Configure:

./configure  --prefix=apache_installation_directory \
  --with-mpm=worker \
  --enable-mods-shared=most \
  --enable-maintainer-mode \
  --with-expat=builtin \
  --enable-ssl \
  --enable-proxy \
  --enable-proxy-http \
  --enable-proxy-ajp \
  --disable-proxy-balancer \
  --enable-so 

Compile

Can be built as a non-root user.

./make

Install

Can be installed as a non-root user, as long as the user has write access to the target directory.

For more details on how to create the operational account, jump ahead to "Create the Operational Account" section and then come back here.

./make install

yum Installation

Alternatively to download and compilation, install with yum:

yum install httpd

Create the Operational Account

!!httpd installed with yum

If httpd is installed with yum, the installation script usually creates a user ("apache"). If yes, use that user. The default behavior is for the httpd to start as a root (via /etc/init.d/httpd) and then switch to the Unix user declared as in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf as "User" and "Group".

!!httpd installed from scratch

Otherwise, if httpd is compiled from scratch, for security reasons, it's best if httpd is operated by its own Unix user and group, with as little permissions as possible.

{{{ groupadd -g 101 httpd useradd -c "httpd operational user" -d /home/httpd -g httpd -m -u 101 httpd }}}

!!!8. Set Standard Environment

!!httpd installed with yum

Configuration directory: Template:/etc/httpd/conf and Template:/etc/httpd/conf.d.

The module directory: Template:/usr/lib/httpd/modules (linked from Template:/etc/httpd)

The run directory: Template:/var/run/httpd (linked from Template:/etc/httpd)

The log directory: Template:/var/log/httpd (linked from Template:/etc/httpd)

When installed with yum, httpd is designed to be operated by root, and switch to "apache" at runtime, so add the following aliases to ~root/.bashrc:

{{{

...

alias cda='cd /etc/httpd' alias cdac='cd /etc/httpd/conf' alias cdal='cd /var/log/httpd' alias cdar='cd /var/run/httpd'

...

}}}

!!httpd installed from scratch

In {{~<httpd-user>/.bashrc}}:

{{{ ...

APACHE_HOME=/home/webr/httpd-2.2.17 PATH=${PATH}:${APACHE_HOME}/bin export PATH APACHE_HOME alias cda='cd ${APACHE_HOME}' alias cdal='cd ${APACHE_HOME}/logs' alias cdac='cd ${APACHE_HOME}/conf'

... }}}


!!!9. Create Start/Stop Scripts

!!httpd installed with yum

If httpd installed with yum, the startup scripts is already created (Template:/etc/init.d/httpd). Use it.

!!httpd installed from scratch


Otherwise, create a similar one.

This also works:

{{{

   $APACHE_HOME/bin/apachectl start
   $APACHE_HOME/bin/apachectl stop

}}}

!!!10. Start at Boot

{{{

   chkconfig --level 2345 httpd on

}}}

!!!11. Configure iptables

{{{

iptables-save > /tmp/iptables.cfg

}}}

Add the following:

{{{ -A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW --dport 80 -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW --dport 443 -j ACCEPT }}}

right under the:

{{{ -A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT }}}

line. Then:

{{{

iptables-restore < /tmp/iptables.cfg iptables-save > /etc/sysconfig/iptables

}}}


If planning to only run the SSL version, do not add the port 80 line.


!!!12. Reboot and make sure the server can be accessed


!!!13. Configure

Modify {{${APACHE_HOME}/conf/httpd.conf}}. See:

|[httpd Configuration]