Apache Topics

• Apache Background
• Apache Configuration Files -

  httpd.conf

• Apache Installation
• Apache Customization
• FileZilla Server
• Apache FtpServer

Apache Background

• Apache Software Foundation
• Apache HTTP Server Project
• Apache HTTP Server Wiki
• How to lookup the owner of an IP address - http://www.arin.net/whois
• How to lookup the owner of a domain name - http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois
• Discussion of Ports
• YouTube - Make Your Local Apache Web Server Live To The Internet

Apache Install using XAMPP

• XAMPP by Apache Friends
• Step 0: need Windows XP or 2003 Server. Then visit XAMPP for Windows
  • Windows 2003 Web Edition - recommend disabling the following services
  • IIS Admin
  • World Wide Web Publishing Service
  • Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
  • HTTP SSL (double check this, it might be needed)
• Step 1: Download XAMPP ZIP ( xampp-win32-1.7.1.zip) and unzip the file
• Step 2: run the ./XAMPP/xampp-portcheck.exe to see if all ports are free. If a port is being used, recommend uninstall the software application which is using it, otherwise XAMPP will not be able to start another service using that port. Note, this is the last step done by the installer but it would be nice to know this information before the install is done to ensure a smooth install.
• Step 3: Download XAMPP Installer ( xampp-win32-1.7.1-installer.exe)and install the XAMPP with the installer.
  • Main benefit get the option to install as a service.
  • Recommend installing in C:\XAMPP directory
  • Recommend install Apache, MySQL and FileZilla FTP server as a service
    
  • Should get this screen once the Apache and MySQL services have started
    
• Step 4: XAMPP Control Panel - test Apache and MySQL are running
  • Click the Admin... button to the right of the Apache module. This should open a web browser displaying XAMPP on the localhost. Click the English link, to open a new webpage. On the left panel, click the Demos - CD Collection link to also test MySQL is working.
  • 
  • Click the Admin... button to the right of MySQL. This should open the phpmyadmin webpage (http://localhost/phpmyadmin)
  • C:\wamp\htdocs is the default root directory for the web server
• Step 5: check services will start automatically
  • using the Windows Administrative Tools -> Services
  • If service isn't set for automatic, then when you do a reboot, will have to manually start the service which likely to be forgotten.

Apache Customization

• Compress Components
  • mod_deflate module provides the DEFLATE output filter that allows output from your server to be compressed files before being sent to the client over the network
  • AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html text/plain text/xml text/css application/x-javascript
  • Steve Souders 14 Rules for Faster-Loading Web Sites - Rule 4: Gzip Components
    • DeflateCompressionLevel directive, the value must between 1 (less compression) and 9 (more compression). DeflateCompressionLevel 2

Apache Configuration Files - httpd.conf

• Apache is configured by placing directives in plain text configuration files, usually called httpd.conf
  • Directive Quick Reference
• Changes to the main configuration files are only recognized by Apache when it is started or restarted.
• Any directive may be placed in the configuration file
• The location of this file is set at compile-time
• example locations
  • WAMP Server installs in C:\wamp\bin\apache\Apache2.2.11\conf\httpd.conf
  • MapGuide Open Source installs in C:\Program Files\MapGuideOpenSource2.0\WebServerExtensions\Apache2\conf\httpd.conf
  • XAMPP installs in .\xampp\apache\conf\httpd.conf
• Apache Documentation - httpd.conf Configuration Files

Apache and Passwords

• Apache How-To Article: Authentication, Authorization and Access Control

Apache and Server Side Includes (SSI)

• Apache Tutorial: Introduction to Server Side Includes

Virtual Host and Apache

• Apache Virtual Host documentation
• Listen directive tells the server to accept incoming requests only on the specified ports or addresses.
• Virtual Host Directive
• ServerName Directive
  • For optimal reliability and predictability, you should specify an explicit hostname and port using the ServerName directive

Dynamic DNS

• DynDNS.com account info: username: jefferyjjensen password: normal
• Custom DNS allows you to setup a domain like www.yourname.com to point to your IP address. Custom DNS is a paid service and dynamic DNS is free.
• If your ISP is blocking port 80, try the HTTP redirection called WebHop
• Remote Desktop Tutorial
• Configure DDNS with Linksys Router
  • Once you login to the router, click the Setup tab, then WAN tab, under DDNS Service select DynDNS.org with username jefferyjjensen password normal, host name: hoamaps.webhop.org then click connect button
  • 
• References
  • DynDNS.com - Custom DNS How-to
  • DynDNS.com - WebHops and Redirections
  • Running a Home Server with Dynamic DNS in your Router
• Setup Custom Dynamic DNS
  • Step 1: Delegate godaddy.com domain registeration to dyndns.org
    • In the Godaddy Domain Manager for hoamaps.com, change the nameservers to ns1.mydyndns.org, ns2.mydyndns.org, ns3, ns4, and ns5 from the default Godaddy nameservers of NS05.DOMAINCONTROL.COM and NS06
    • See Custom DNS How-to: Delegation
    • If you want the webpage, ftp, and remote desktop to go to the home server and the email and calendar information to go to the Google Gmail, then edit the A (Host) and CNAMES (Aliases) records of the Domain Manager in GoDaddy.com. Problem with this is the solution is when the IP address changes, will have to manually go into Godaddy and change the IP address. We need a better solution.
  • Step 2: setup Custom DynDNS
    • Login to Custom DNS - https://www.dyndns.com/+custom/hoamaps.com

FileZilla Server

• FileZilla Forums
• FileZilla Documentation
• Into the main directory of xampp, start "filezilla_setup.bat" for setup. Attention: For Windows NT, 2000 and XP Professional, FileZilla needs to install as service.
  Configure "FileZilla FTP". For this, please use the FileZilla Interface with the "FileZilla Server Interface.exe". Two Users are in this example:
  A: A default user "newuser", password "wampp". The home directory is xampp\htdocs.
  B: An anonymous user "anonymous", no password. The home directory is xampp\anonymous.
  The default interface is the loopback address 127.0.0.1.
  The FTP Server is shutdown with the "FileZillaFTP_stop.bat". For FileZilla FTP as service, please use the "FileZillaServer.exe" directly. Then, you can configure all start options.

Apache FtpServer

• Download Apache FtpServer
• How to Install/Reinstall Apache FtpServer
  • Background
    • From an administration procedure, whenever I need to add a user or make any changes, I must stop and then start the service
    • In a nutshell 1) service uninstall, 2) edit users.properties, 3) service install and 4) ftpdw to start the service
  • Step 0: install Java SE Runtime Environment. This must be already be installed for Apache FtpServer to work.
  • Step 1: download the Apache FtpServer
  • Step 2: unzip the file. I copied my files to C:\apache-ftpserver-1.0.0
  • Step 3: using the Windows Command prompt, type service install in the C:\apache-ftpserver-1.0.0\bin directory
    • C:\apache-ftpserver-1.0.0\bin\service install ftpd C:\apache-ftpserver-1.0.0\res\conf\ftpd-typical.xml
    • Tip by Sai Pullabhotla (sai.pullabhotla@jmethods.com) - Not able to connect to ftp
    • ftpd-typical.xml uses a default port of 2121 for ftp instead of the typical port 21
    • I had to uninstall the service first by running service uninstall then run the above service install command
    • If doing a reinstall
      • 1. Stop the Apache FtpServer ftpd service using the Windows Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services
      • 2. service uninstall
      • 3. edited the ftpd-typical.xml text file so the passwords are nolonger encrypted (encrypt-passwords="false") in the users.properties text file.
        • 
          <!-- it appears the default is encrypt-passwords="true" if not specified -->
          <!-- <file-user-manager file="./res/conf/users.properties" /> -->
          <file-user-manager file="./res/conf/users.properties" encrypt-passwords="false" />
        • Note, cannot use both encrypted passwords and non-encrypted, must choose one or the other.
      • 4. add any new users (username and passwords) to the users.properties text file
        • 
          ftpserver.user.jjensen.userpassword=normal
          ftpserver.user.jjensen.homedirectory=./res/home
          ftpserver.user.jjensen.enableflag=true
          ftpserver.user.jjensen.writepermission=true
          ftpserver.user.jjensen.maxloginnumber=20
          ftpserver.user.jjensen.maxloginperip=2
          ftpserver.user.jjensen.idletime=300
          ftpserver.user.jjensen.uploadrate=4800
          ftpserver.user.jjensen.downloadrate=4800
        • Note, if you ever have problems with an ftp account not able to create a directory or upload a file, check the ftpserver.user.jjensen.writepermission=true, most likely the value is set to false and thus the reason for the problem
        • Note, the homedirectory can be set to the root, C:\ so you then have access to all files and folders
      • 5. C:\apache-ftpserver-1.0.0\bin\service install ftpd C:\apache-ftpserver-1.0.0\res\conf\ftpd-typical.xml
  • Step 4: check the service is running, also from the Windows Command prompt, type ftpdw
  • Step 5: test ftp is working
    • ftp
      op localhost 2121
    • ftp localhost if you changed the port to 21
    • username: admin
    • password: admin
  • Step 6: create your own users and home directory
    • edit C:\apache-ftpserver-1.0.0\res\conf\users.properties
    • Example Home Directories
      • ftpserver.user.anonymous.homedirectory=C:/wamp/www
      • ftpserver.user.admin.homedirectory=./res/home
  • Step 7: test ftp from outside using IP address
    • If the ftp server works with localhost (step 5) but not with the WAN IP address then its most likely the port is blocked by a firewall on the server side.
  • Step 8: test ftp from outside using domain name
    • If using the Go Daddy domain manager, then in the A Host add the IP address of the server, then in the CNAMES add ftp which points to the A Host using the @ symbol.
    • ftp ftp.gisengineering.com
  • Reference
    • Installing FtpServer as a Windows service
    • FtpServer User Manager
    • Apache FtpServer Mailing List Archive and post a question by sending an email to ftpserver-users@mina.apache.org
    • Apache Conferences
      • ApacheCon US 2009 2-6 Nov 2009 in Oakland CA
      • ApacheCon Europe 2009