Apache Server: Help me!

First off, if you really want to learn GNU/Linux I would recommend the O''Reilly books Linux in a Nutshell and Running Linux. The nutshell book is a good reference for commands and whatnot, while the Running Linux book is geared more towards a user-level explanation of the OS.

From what you posted here it looks like the Unleashed book is having you build Apache from the source.

I typically don''t use rpms, but if you go to the apache web site (httpd.apache.org), you should find the latest rpm there with plenty of documentation on how to install and use it.

Personally, I prefer to download the source tarball (if it''s avaliable) and build it myself. You have more control over what options get put in the executable this way.

Typically when you build the executable yourself you issue a command like ./configure which in turn constructs the appropriate make and header files for the build.

Apache is avaliable for various Windows platforms. Instead of using the web server provided by Windows IIS, you could use Apache. However you can''t use both at the same time on the same port. Depending on which one you start first, the other would fail when it tries to bind to port 80. I don''t know if it''s case-insensitive or not, I haven''t ever used Apache for Windows.

- Synchronized

Hmmm... You should first make sure whether you did install the source or binary RPM. For doing so, type
which apache
at the command prompt. If you get something like
/usr/sbin/apache
then a version of apache is already installed. By calling
apache -v
you can now find out what version is installed. If it''s another version than you just uninstalled, you distro probably installed one and you don''t have to bother installing a new one as long as you need a newer one. If it''s the same, well, you did it.

Now the more complicated part, when the above command didn''t yield a result. You should probably look for a directory like
/usr/src/packages
or something under /usr/src, and check whether there''s a directory called "apache" or "apache-x.y.z" (x.y.z being a version number) and check whether that''s it. There should be files called "INSTALL" and/or "README" in there giving further information.
If you don''t find it this way, use
find / -name "apache*" -type f
and look where such files are found. If there''s a file called apache.c, look in the directory where it resides, there ought to be more.

Anyway, when compiling from sources, I''d recommend doing it from some normal user (NOT root) in the respective home diorectory. If you can stand it, get a tarball (.tar.gr, .tar.bz2 or the like) of what you want and unpack it into your home directory. If you''re not a complete loss, the files I mentioned above will contain about enough info to get you started. (Just don''t forget to do the final "make install" as root )

About books: I don''t think I ever really read one. I got some basic U*IX book to learn about some standard commands and then started experimenting. The rest of my (probably humble) knowledge is from the web and lots of frustration. Just don''t ever give up...

Thanks man for the help! Apache is neat (btw Godfree and CyberGeek too posted similar solutions in this thread and god knows where and how they disappeared or were deleted from here? ).

Anyway i tried Apache for Win2K too. Its pretty fine, much comparable and competent enough to IIS, and yeah! Much much more superior that PWS. The only bitch is it doesn't support ".asp" files. But Yeah! That apache things works very fine with Win95/98 too. I'm also running it with IIS, indigo perl comes with its own apache server and miraculously configures and runs both of 'em.

One thing I just fail to understand why these linux folks underestimate their fine product. If u can't seem to know what this means? try installing Apache for win98 and you'll see loads of messages during the setup ( and after it ) that seem to bitch about their own product "apache" for performance rating and security holes... Imagine if microsoft was also gonna be so polite then what will their setups look like

Hey one thing more, i was playing with the httpd.conf file and one thing i wanted to know about was the virtual host section. I changed this section to the following:

ServerName www.cyanide.com

ServerAdmin webmaster@dummy-host.example.com

DocumentRoot /MyDocs/

ErrorLog logs/dummy-host.example.com-error_log

CustomLog logs/dummy-host.example.com-access_log common

Now i was hoping that when i type www.cyanide.com i should be taken to the document root of apache server, but i get a page not found error. FYI if i type 127.0.0.1 it works fine otherwise.

cyanide.

P.S. one thing more just for my information, why do all ya linux d00ds type UNIX as UN*I or *NIX?


Edited by - cyanide on January 11, 2001 1:20:25 PM

quote:

---

Original post by cyanide

Now i was hoping that when i type www.cyanide.com i should be taken to the document root of apache server, but i get a page not found error. FYI if i type 127.0.0.1 it works fine otherwise.

cyanide.

P.S. one thing more just for my information, why do all ya linux d00ds type UNIX as UN*I or *NIX?


Edited by - cyanide on January 11, 2001 1:20:25 PM

---

Well, it''s really easy, in your server root, remove the final slash ("/"). It''s not needed...

For the second question about *nix, it''s because there are more than one type of *nix like systems. I don''t want to start listing the ones I know as it would only server to create a flame war but that''s the main reason.



Cyberdrek
Headhunter Soft
DLC Multimedia

Have a look at http://www.nodeworks.com/asp/

quote:

---

Original post by Cyberdrek

Well, it''s really easy, in your server root, remove the final slash ("/"). It''s not needed...

---

On top of that, your system needs to know how to resolve the name www.cyanide.com properly. Apache is setup just fine, but the client software you use to browse the Apache server needs to know where www.cyanide.com is. More specifically it needs the ip address of the server.

A quick little fix would be to just to edit the /etc/hosts file on the box your going to use the client software on (which I''m going to assume is the same machine you have the Apache server running on). In this file add the line:

127.0.0.1 www.cyanide.com

Check out the already existing entries in the /etc/hosts file for the proper format of the line.

Now when you type in www.cyanide.com in your web browser, it will resolve to your localhost address (127.0.0.1).

However, if you ever setup a LAN and want all the boxes to be able to easily browse your web server, the other boxes are going to have to know how to resolve the name www.cyanide.com properly. The best solution would be to setup a domain name server for your LAN. Or you could just edit the hosts files on the other machines (and yes Windows does have a hosts file as well).

Although, this could get you into trouble if you ever connect the LAN to the Internet, because then if you ever wanted to visit the real www.cyanide.com (Some sort of streaming media company), all the requests would be redirected to your local web server.

- Synchronized