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Building an Apache Web Server

The Web is the Internet, and the Internet is the Web. Well, that’s not completely true because the Internet provides the foundation for widely used functions, such as e-mail. However, the Internet became immensely popular because of the World Wide Web (WWW).

The Web isn’t as mysterious as it may seem at first. It’s essentially all the world’s web servers that are connected to the Internet. The Internet serves the same function as the world’s telephone system: It interconnects everyone. You can think of web servers as the telephones that allow people to contact each other, businesses, and other organizations. Just as you can start a business or organization and let people contact you via your phone, you can also allow people to contact you via your web server. This section describes how to construct a simple web server.

TipDescribing how to set up anything more than a simple web server is beyond the scope of this book. Needless to say, you can configure Apache to provide a whole world of Web services. If you want to utilize the powers of Apache, consult such books as the excellent Apache Server 2 Bible, by Mohammed J. Kabir, published by Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Installing and starting the web server

Linux provides the ideal platform for providing Web services. The Apache web server system is bundled with Red Hat Linux. Apache is easy to set up and use.

Because you’re entering the world of creating and administering Linux services, you switch your orientation from performing work in GUIs to the command-line interface (CLI). Linux system administrators should become comfortable with using the CLI because many functions are best performed with the command line. You enter commands in the GNOME Terminal (terminal emulator) window in this chapter rather than use graphical utilities.

Follow these steps to install and configure a basic web server:

Log in as root and mount the companion DVD-ROM.

Now you need to install the Apache RPM packages.

You manually install the packages by first starting a GNOME Terminal window by clicking the GNOME Menu and choosing System ToolsTerminal. Enter these commands:

rpm -ivh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/apr*
rpm -ivh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/httpd*

The Apache RPM package puts all configuration files in place, so all you have to do is start the appropriate daemon.

Enter this command from the GNOME Terminal window:

/etc/init.d/httpd start

Tip Linux uses the term daemon when referring to a process that runs continually in order to provide a service. The Apache daemon is named httpd, short for HyperText Transport Protocol Daemon. HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) is the system used to coordinate the transfer of Web pages between the server and the client (for example, the Mozilla browser). HTTP is the common language that both sides speak.

Start your Mozilla Web browser and enter localhost in the URL window. Your new web server is displayed, as shown in Figure 16-1.

Figure 16-1: Your first web server!

If you want your web server to start automatically every time you boot your computer, enter this command in the terminal emulator window:

chkconfig --level 35 httpd on

The level 35 option configures the web server to start in either nongraphics mode (system level 3) or graphical (system level 5) modes.

TipRunning the chkconfig utility creates soft links, which are roughly analogous to a pointer. In this case, the soft link S85httpd is run automatically whenever you boot your computer.

Your web server should now be visible on your private network. (If your computer isn’t connected to a LAN — for example, if it’s a stand-alone machine with a telephone, cable, or DSL Internet connection — you can still use your web server from the machine itself.) However, keeping your web server all to yourself isn’t much fun. The following section describes how to allow access to your web server from the Internet.

TipThe Open Office suite has an HTML editor you can use to create Web pages. It’s simple to use and can produce great-looking documents. Open any Open Office program (Writer or Spreadsheet, for example) and choose FileNewHTML Document. The HTML editor window opens, and you can create Web pages.

Accessing your web server through your firewall

This section describes how to open your firewall to allow access to your web server. Exactly how you allow access depends on whether you’re connecting to the Internet directly from your Linux computer or through a LAN. The steps in this section describe how to modify your firewall and a DSL Internet connection to allow the Internet to view your Web page.

You must modify the network address translation (NAT) configuration if you’re using a DSL modem like the one we describe in Chapter 6. Connect to the DSL modem as described in Chapter 6 and run these commands:

set nat entry add 10.0.0.1 80 192.168.32.254 80
write

You have to modify your Internet gateway or firewall too. You have to allow external web browsers to connect to port 80 on your Apache server. Create the firewall rule by entering this command:

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j -dport 80

Amazons of the world, watch out! Okay, it takes just a bit more than the default Apache Web page to upset the big boys, but you have the basics in place. All you have to do is figure out what to sell. How about a great Linux book?