ARPSE Webserver Notes

Software configuration for commodity x86/86_64 linux art research platform.

Prerequisites

Assume Fedora 27 or 28. See base document for full software stack.

Webserver Setup

Assume physical access to the server hardware, that there is a default install of the operating system, that the network is up, and that the static IP address of the server is 192.168.1.52. For any of the commands below, assume the root user or use of sudo.

Use the Apache httpd package. See the section of the Fedora System Administration Guide on Web Servers for background, and a quick install notes at Fedora magazine. After, read the getting started notes.

dnf install -y httpd mod_ssl

Then configure the webserver to start at boot via

systemctl enable httpd.service

And punch holes through the firewall to allow incoming traffic on port 80 and 443

 firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http --add-service=https 

Then, a bit of fun to enable the webserver for other computers, aka enabling access to web applications in Fedora-speak. The authorization file is /etc/httpd/conf.d/webapp.conf, so add a new config file that loads after this to broaden access. Say, /etc/httpd/conf.d/z-webapp-allow.conf with the following

    
        # Apache 2.4
        Require all granted
    
    
        # Apache 2.2
        Order Deny,Allow
        Allow from all
    

At this point, using either of the chrome or firefox browsers on the server’s desktop should show a default webserver welcome page when

http://localhost

is entered into the search bar. To check that the webserver is working for other computers, try to view it on another computer. For instance, try

http://192.168.1.52

on both computers. The generated page should look the same. If so, congratulations, the first of part of setup is completed.

Additional SELinux efforts:

setsebool -P httpd_graceful_shutdown 1;
setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect 1;

Configure the webserver to allow mod_rewrite so that wordpress can make more legible permalinks.
Find the part of the main configuration file (as below) and change the directory block to have AllowOverride All.

To check the configuration of the webserver, post-hacking, use

apachectl configtest

Main configuration file is: /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
Configuration file for the first page is: /etc/httpd/conf.d/welcome.conf
Apache site files are found: /var/www/html/
Apache log file: /var/log/httpd/error_log