Apache Configuration

Once you have Apache successfully installed and serving web pages using the default configuration, you will most likely need to customize the configuration for your particular needs. The general features of Apache that can be configured are the global environment, such as the web document root and the TCP/IP port that Apache will use; dynamic shared object (module) control, such as support modules for programming languages that Apache can use to generate dynamic web pages; reducing the system security risks of the web server and controlling access to specific documents; support for the Common Gateway Interface (CGI), virtual hosts, and user home directories; and the location and format of logs that Apache generates.

The Apache httpd main configuration file is httpd.conf, a plain text file in the UNIX tradition. If installed from Linux packages, the location of httpd.conf is /etc/apache/, /etc/apache2/, or /etc/httpd/. If compiled and installed manually as shown earlier in this chapter, httpd.conf will be located in /usr/local/apache2/conf/.