How To Install the Apache Web Server on Debian 11

Introduction

Before we begin talking about how to install Apache Web Server on Debian 11, let's briefly understand – What is Apache Web Server?

Apache HTTP Server is the most well-known web server in the world. Numerous potent features are offered by it, such as dynamically loadable modules, excellent media support, and broad integration with other well-liked applications.

This tutorial will provide an overview of how to install the Apache Web Server on Debian 11, enabling you to set up a robust and secure web server for hosting your websites and applications. We will also address a few FAQs on how to install apache web server on Debian 11.

Advantages of Using the Apache Web Server on Debian 11

1. Reliability and Stability: Apache is renowned for its stability and reliability, making it a popular choice among web hosting providers and enterprises worldwide.
2. Security Features: Apache offers a range of security features, including SSL/TLS support, access controls, authentication mechanisms, and modules like mod_security for preventing common web application attacks.
3. Flexibility and Configurability: Apache allows fine-grained configuration options, enabling you to customize various aspects of its behavior and optimize it to meet your specific needs.
4. Scalability and Performance: Apache is designed to handle high traffic loads and can scale to accommodate increased demand. Its modular architecture allows you to add or remove modules based on your performance and functionality requirements.
5. Extensive Community Support: Apache has a large and active user community, providing access to a wealth of resources, documentation, and community support for troubleshooting, sharing best practices, and staying up to date with the latest developments.

Prerequisites

You must have a Debian 11 server configured with a non-root user who has sudo access and a firewall that is set to block unnecessary ports before you can start this guide.

Once you've finished configuring, log in as your non-root user and move on to step one.

Step 1 — Installing Apache

Apache can be installed using conventional package management tools because it is part of Debian's normal software repositories.

Start by reflecting the most recent upstream modifications in the local package index:

sudo apt update

After that, set up the apache2 package:

sudo apt install apache2

apt will install Apache and all necessary dependencies once the installation has been confirmed.

Step 2 — Adjusting the Firewall

Before testing Apache, it's crucial to adjust the firewall settings to allow outside access to the standard web ports. Assuming you followed the necessary steps carefully, you should have a UFW firewall configured to restrict access to your server.

Apache registers with UFW after installation in order to offer a few application profiles that can be used to enable or prevent access to Apache through the firewall.

For a list of all ufw application profiles, enter the following:

sudo ufw app list

A list of the application profiles will be sent to you:

Output
Available applications:
  AIM
  Bonjour
  CIFS
. . . 
 WWW
 WWW Cache
 WWW Full
 WWW Secure
. . . 

The Apache profiles start with the initial WWW:

• WWW: Only port 80 (regular, unencrypted web traffic) is opened by this profile.
• WWW Cache: Only port 8080, which is occasionally used for caching and web proxies, is opened by this profile.
• WWW Full: Both port 80 (for regular, unencrypted web traffic) and port 443 (for TLS/SSL-encrypted traffic) are opened by this profile.
• WWW Secure: Only port 443 (TLS/SSL encrypted traffic) is opened by this profile.

It is advised that you activate the most restrictive profile that still permits the configured traffic. In this guide, you haven't yet set up SSL on your server, thus all traffic on port 80 needs to be permitted:

sudo ufw allow 'WWW'

By examining the status, you may confirm the modification:

sudo ufw status

There will be a list of permitted HTTP traffic in the output:

Output
Status: active

To                         Action      From
--                         ------      ----
OpenSSH                    ALLOW       Anywhere
WWW                        ALLOW       Anywhere
OpenSSH (v6)               ALLOW       Anywhere (v6)
WWW (v6)                   ALLOW       Anywhere (v6)

The profile has been activated to permit access to the Apache web server, as shown by the output.

Step 3 — Checking your Web Server

Apache is started by Debian 11 once the installation process is finished. The web server must be operational.

Type the following command to verify that the service is active with the systemd init system:

sudo systemctl status apache2

Output
● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor prese>
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2022-07-06 22:05:45 UTC; 23s ago
       Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
   Main PID: 2796 (apache2)
      Tasks: 55 (limit: 9509)
     Memory: 21.0M
        CPU: 67ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
             ├─2796 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─2798 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             └─2799 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start

This output shows that the service launched properly. The best way to test this, though, is to request a page from Apache.

You can check the program's functionality by visiting the default Apache landing page using your IP address. There are several ways to obtain your server's IP address from the command line if you are unaware of it.

On your server, type the following into the command prompt:

hostname -I

Several addresses will be returned, each one separated by a space. You can check to see if each one works in your web browser.

Another choice is to use the icanhazip.com tool, a website that, when accessed, returns the public IP address of your computer as it was read from another place on the internet. curl can be installed via the command line if it isn't already there:

sudo apt install curl

Afterward, using curl to fetch icanhazip.com over IPv4:

curl -4 icanhazip.com

When you know your server's IP address, type it into the address bar of your browser like follows:

http://your_server_ip

The default Debian 11 Apache web page ought to appear:

This page shows that Apache is operating properly. Additionally, it contains certain fundamental details regarding the locations of key Apache files and directories.

Step 4 — Managing the Apache Process

Now that your web server is operational, let's cover some fundamental systemctl management commands.

To stop your web server, type:

sudo systemctl stop apache2

Run the following commands to restart the web server once it has been stopped:

sudo systemctl start apache2

Run the following command to stop and restart the service.

sudo systemctl restart apache2

If all that needs to be changed is the configuration, Apache can frequently reload without losing connections. Use the following command to accomplish this:

sudo systemctl reload apache2

When the server boots, Apache is set to launch automatically by default. Run the following command to stop this behaviour if that's not what you want:

sudo systemctl disable apache2

Run the following command to make the service once more bootable:

sudo systemctl enable apache2

When the server restarts, Apache will now start by itself.

Step 5 — Configuring Virtual Hosts (Recommended)

To encapsulate configuration information and host several domains from a single server when using the Apache web server, you can use virtual hosts (similar to server blocks in Nginx). your_domain will be the domain name we create; however, you should substitute your own domain name here.

One server block is enabled by default in Apache on Debian 11, and it is set up to serve files from the /var/www/html directory. While this is effective for a single site, hosting many sites might make it cumbersome. Instead of making changes to /var/www/html, let's construct a directory structure within /var/www for a site under your_domain, leaving /var/www/html in place to act as the default directory if a client request doesn't match any other sites.

The directory for your_domain should be created as follows:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/your_domain

Next, use the $USER environment variable to specify who owns the directory:

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/your_domain

If you haven't changed the umask value, which determines the default file permissions, the permissions of your web roots should be accurate. You can enter the following command to verify that your permissions are valid and provide the owner read, write, and execute access to the files while only providing groups and other users read and execute access:

sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/your_domain

Next, using nano or your preferred editor, make a sample index.html page as follows:

sudo nano /var/www/your_domain/index.html

Add the following example HTML inside:

<html>
    <head>
        <title>Welcome to your_domain!</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <h1>Success!  The your_domain virtual host is working!</h1>
    </body>
</html>

When you're done, save and close the file. You can do this in nano by pressing CTRL + X, then Y, and ENTER.

It is important to construct a virtual host file with the appropriate directives in order for Apache to deliver this content. Let's create a new configuration file at /etc/apache2/sites-available/your_domain.conf rather than directly alter the default one at /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/your_domain.conf

The configuration block below should be pasted in; it is similar to the default but adjusted for our new directory and domain name:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    ServerName your_domain
    ServerAlias www.your_domain
    DocumentRoot /var/www/your_domain
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

You'll see that we've changed ServerAdmin to an email that the your_domain site administrator can access and DocumentRoot to point to our new directory. Additionally, we've introduced two directives: ServerName, which provides the base domain that must match for the definition of this virtual host, and ServerAlias, which specifies additional names that must match as if they were the base name.

Once you're done, save and close the document.

Let's use the a2ensite tool to enable the file:

sudo a2ensite your_domain.conf

The default site specified in 000-default.conf should be disabled:

sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf

Let's now check for configuration errors:

sudo apache2ctl configtest

You should get the following output:

Output
AH00558: apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this message
Syntax OK

To put your modifications into effect, restart Apache:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Your domain name ought should now be served by Apache. You may verify this by going to http://your_domain, where you ought to see the following:

Step 6 – Getting Familiar with Important Apache Files and Directories

You should spend some time getting acquainted with a few significant directories and files now that you are aware of how to control the Apache service itself.

Content

• /var/www/html: The /var/www/html directory is used to serve actual web content, which by default just consists of the Apache default page you previously saw. By making changes to the Apache configuration files, this can be adjusted.

Server Configuration

• /etc/apache2: The Apache configuration directory. Here are all of the configuration files for Apache.
• /etc/apache2/apache2.conf: The main configuration file for Apache. This can be changed to make changes to the Apache global configuration. This file is in charge of loading several of the other files in the configuration directory.
• /etc/apache2/ports.conf: The ports that Apache will listen on are listed in this file. When a module with SSL capabilities is activated, Apache also listens on port 443 in addition to port 80 by default.
• /etc/apache2/sites-available/: The directory in which per-site virtual hosts can be placed. The configuration files in this directory must be linked to the sites-enabled directory in order for Apache to use them. Typically, all server block configuration is completed in this directory, and the other directory is linked with the a2ensite command to enable it.
• /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/: The directory in which activated per-site virtual hosts are stored. These are often made by using the a2ensite to connect to configuration files located in the sites-available directory. When Apache begins or reloads, it scans the configuration files and links contained in this directory to create a complete setup.
• /etc/apache2/conf-available/, /etc/apache2/conf-enabled/: These directories have the same relationship as the sites-available and sites-enabled directories, however they are intended to hold configuration fragments that do not belong in a virtual host. Using the a2enconf and a2disconf commands, you can enable and disable files in the conf-available directory.
• /etc/apache2/mods-available/, /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/: These directories include the modules that are both available and enabled. Files ending in .load contain fragments for loading specific modules, whereas files ending in .conf include configuration for those modules. Using the a2enmod and a2dismod commands, modules can be enabled and disabled.

Server Logs

• /var/log/apache2/access.log: Unless Apache is set to do otherwise, every request to your web server is by default logged in this log file.
• /var/log/apache2/error.log: By default, this file stores all errors. In the Apache configuration, the LogLevel directive defines how much detail the error logs will contain.

FAQs: Installing the Apache Web Server on Debian 11

Conclusion

Installing the Apache Web Server on Debian 11 provides you with a powerful and reliable web hosting solution. Apache offers numerous advantages, including its stability, security features, flexibility in configuration, scalability, and extensive community support.

By following the installation process and taking advantage of Apache's features and customization options, you can set up a web server that meets your specific requirements.

If you have any queries, feel free to comment below, and we will be glad to answer them.