APACHE WEB SERVER

HOW TO GET IT TO WORK

Purpose of this page.
Apache - what it is.
Getting started.
Online links.
Conclusion.

........ Have a lot of fun ..........

Purpose of this page.

The porpuse of this work is to help anyone who wants to install the Apache webserver in their machines.

This work is meant to be as easy to follow as possible. Not to many links of information is provided to make sure who follows this procedure do not get lost. Regarding that, two main links are suggested: one responsible for the creation of the base webserver used to develop Apache and the one that developed Apache and maintain it.

In a brief way Apache is described, and steps on how to download, install, compile and start it up are presented making anyone able to make Apache works on their computer.

You are going to see that following this steps it is easy to make Apache work.

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Apache - what it is.

A webserver is a software that runs at the service provider side, that enable the computer to translate URL requests from the internet into a filename, and send the file back to the requester machine.

Apache webserver is the most popular webserver used nowardays, probably representing over sixty five percent of all websites servers. Apache webserver is available in version for most operating systems ranging from UNIX, Windows to S/390, making it very versatile. Because of its capacity to be the center of a webservice structure and at the same time be able to have new capabilities added to its operation without bringing the system down, it is considerd to be a very flexible system.

Apache is a free software written and maintained by a team made of volunteers workers. This means that any sugestion to it can be done and if of any good may be incorporated to it. A foundation, The Apache Software Foundation, was created to make avialable supports to this project development.

The first webserver was written at the Euroean Center for Nuclear Research at Geneva, Switzerland, by Tim Berners-Lee. The software that was the base for Apache was developed in the U.S. at he National Center for Supercomputing Applications NCSA.

Getting started.

Donwloading:

Before start downloading your Apache you should verify the following:

Get yourself a notebook. Please keep notes of what you are doing. It helps you a lot.
Find out the type of hardware you are working with. Take notes about it and its configuration.
Find out what kind of software Operating System you are working on. Take notes of its version and check for available software package bundled with it. You are going to use gunzip or any other uncompressor utility you might have.
From now on be aware that I only will explain procedures to UNIX related operating systems. For any other type of operating systems you need to make your own relations.
Before you start, make sure to decide were are you going to keep the dounloaded version of the Apache software. The final version can be installed anywere, but I suggest that it should be installed at the default target directory recomended by the software supplier. Which is /usr/local/apache.
Make sure you have "root powers" to be able to perform all needed operations to your computer. If you only have personal account, talk to your system adninistrator how to work this out.

To download the Apache software link yourself to the following site.

http://www.apache.org/dist
Let's use the version 1.3.19 for this example, knowing that there are many others versions available.

Installing:

Download the file apache.1.3.19.tar.gz
After you have downloaded it, go to your console and proceed with the uncompressing of the file. In a unix machine you use "gunzip filename."

Verify that it is still a single file that need to be extracted. Proceed with the extracting by using command "tar -xvf filename."

By now you can see that you have the software in your hands, but dont be that happy yet, we still need to do some compilng. Check your new existent directory and "jump"(cd) into it.

Compiling:

What we are going to see now is the basic compilation for this software. The commands are "configure" "make" and "make install". To be more cautious, read carefully all "README" files and specially the "README.configure" file.

From inside the new created directory, execute the "./configure" command. My recommendation is to configure with the following options:

./configure --enable-shared=max --enable-module=most --prefix=/usr/local/apache

The first option is to compile as may modules as possible, the second one is to turn on most of the availables ones and the third one is to ensure our instalation directory.

Now run the comands "make" and "make install:"

make

make install

After you do that you should receive this message:

+--------------------------------------------------------+
| You now have successfully built and installed the      |
| Apache 1.3 HTTP server. To verify that Apache actually |
| works correctly you now should first check the         |
| (initially created or preserved) configuration files   |
|                                                        |
|   /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf
|                                                        |
| and then you should be able to immediately fire up     |
| Apache the first time by running:                      |
|                                                        |
|   /usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl start
|                                                        |
| Thanks for using Apache.       The Apache Group        |
|                                http://www.apache.org/  |
+--------------------------------------------------------+

Starting up:

To start up your Apache webserver run the following command:

/usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl start

By doing this a deamon program, "httpd", will start running in the background. This means that you are able to be accessed by someone from the network you are installed through your IP address.

To make sure Apache is working well, from a browser, conect to your own webserver by visiting your addrees:

http://your-IP-address/

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Online links.

Apache Software Foundation Back to text

National Center for Supercomputing Applications - NCSA Back to text

Conclusion.

As you can see it is very simple to install Apache. But do not fool yourself thinking that the work finishes here.

We need to realize that after we see the webserver runnig only the instalation and the "making it work" suggested in this work is done.

To have a proper webserver running under your computer you still need to configure it properlly and it will be my next work on the subject.

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