Apache Server Configs


Apache Server Configs is a collection of configuration snippets that can help
your server improve the website's performance and security, while also
ensuring that resources are served with the correct content-type and are
accessible, if needed, even cross-domain.

Getting Started

There are two options for getting the Apache server configs:

* If you have access to the main server configuration
file
(usually called httpd.conf), you should configure Apache this way.
This is usually the recommended way, as using .htaccess files slows
down
Apache!
* If you don't have access to it, which is quite common with hosting services,
checkout the .htaccess guide.

Using the Apache server configs repo directly has a few required steps to be able to work.

See also the Apache Getting Started.

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The first thing to check is that the httpd.conf file contains appropriate values for
your specific install.

Most specific variables are:

* ServerRoot
* User
* Group
* ErrorLog
* CustomLog
* TypesConfig (ensure that the path for the mime.types file is valid)

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* To verify Apache config

``shell
apache2 -t
`

* To verify Apache config with a custom file

`shell
apache2 -t -f httpd.conf
`

* To reload Apache and apply the new config

`shell
apache2ctl reload
`

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Some configurations won't have any effect if the
appropriate modules aren't enabled. So, in order for everything
to work as intended, you need to ensure you have the following
Apache modules enabled:

* mod_autoindex.c (autoindex_module)
* mod_deflate.c (deflate_module)
* mod_expires.c (expires_module)
* mod_filter.c (filter_module)
* mod_headers.c (headers_module)
* mod_include.c (include_module)
* mod_mime.c (mime_module)
* mod_rewrite.c (rewrite_module)
* mod_setenvif.c (setenvif_module)

For more detailed information on configuration files and how to
use them, please check the appropriate Apache documentation:

*
*

#### Standalone

These instructions should work on any distribution where apt-get has been
used to install Apache.

1. Open up a terminal and type the following command. Enter your password when
prompted.

`shell
sudo a2enmod setenvif headers deflate filter expires rewrite include
`

2. Restart apache by using the following command, so the new configuration takes
effect.

`shell
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
`

#### With MAMP/WAMP/XAMPP

* MAMP PRO. On the main screen, click the Apache tab and ensure that all
the required modules are 'checked', indicating they are enabled.

* WampServer. If you have installed WampServer just click on the icon in the
task bar then Apache section then modules section.
You will be presented with a list of modules. Simply click on a module name
to enable it. WampServer will automatically restart the Apache service after
you enable a module.

* Others. Locate the httpd.conf file, which is typically found in:
* MAMP: /Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/httpd.conf
* XAMPP: /Applications/XAMPP/etc/httpd.conf
* WAMP: C:\apache\conf\httpd.conf

Open the file in a text editor and uncomment all the required modules.
Once you have done so, reset MAMP/WAMP/XAMPP.

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This repository has the following structure:

`text
./
├── vhosts/
│ ├── 000-default.conf
│ └── templates/
├── h5bp/
│ ├── basic.conf
│ └── .../
└── httpd.conf
`

* vhosts/

This directory should contain all the server definitions.

Except if they are dot prefixed or non .conf extension, all files in this
folder are loaded automatically.

* templates folder

Files in this folder contain a template for secure and non-secure hosts.
They are intended to be copied in the vhosts folder with all example.com
occurrences changed to the target host.

* h5bp/

This directory contains config snippets (mixins) to be included as desired.

There are two types of config files provided, individual config snippets and
combined config files which provide convenient defaults.

* basic.conf

This file loads a small subset of the rules provided by this repository to add
expires headers, allow cross-domain fonts and protect system files from web
access.
The basic.conf file includes the rules which are recommended to always be
defined.

* httpd.conf

The main Apache config file.




Usage

The default location of the configuration files is /usr/local/apache2/, but these files may be located any of a variety of places, depending on how exactly you installed the server.
Common locations for these files may be found in the httpd wiki.

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To use as reference requires no special installation steps, download/checkout the
repository to a convenient location and adapt your existing httpd configuration
incorporating the desired functionality from this repository.

Download the latest release archive.

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To use directly, add httpd config files from this repository.
For example:

`shell
apache2ctl stop
git clone https://github.com/h5bp/server-configs-apache.git /tmp/h5bp-apache
cd /usr/local
cp -r apache2 apache2-previous
cp -r /tmp/h5bp-apache/* apache2


install-specific edits


apache2ctl start
`

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`bash
cd /usr/local/apache2/vhosts
`

* Creating a new site

`bash
cp templates/example.com.conf .actual-hostname.conf
sed -i 's/example.com/actual-hostname/g' .actual-hostname.conf
`

* Enabling a site

`bash
mv .actual-hostname.conf actual-hostname.conf
`

* Disabling a site

`bash
mv actual-hostname.conf .actual-hostname.conf
`

`bash
apache2ctl reload
`




.htaccess file

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Just copy the .htaccess file in the root of the website.

Getting options:

* Download the h5bp.htaccess on the latest release
and rename the file to .htaccess
* Install them via npm: npm install --save-dev apache-server-configs
Inside the dist/ folder, you'll find a ready-to-use .htaccess file.

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Security, mime-type, and caching best practices evolve, and so should do your
.htaccess file. In the past, with each new Apache Server Configs release
it was quite tedious to find out which .htaccess trick was just new or only
had changes in certain nuances.

The build script with its re-usable and customizable
build configuration lets you easily
update your .htaccess file. Each new .htaccess build will contain the
updated Apache Server Configs source files, enabled or commented-out according
to your settings in the htaccess.conf of your project root.

#### Configuration file: htaccess.conf

It allows you to define which module to enable or
disable for your project. Just copy the default
htaccess.conf
from this repo into your project directory. Adjust to your needs, and/or
add custom code snippets you need for your project.
Its syntax is straight and pretty much self-explanatory:

`apache


Example Module

title "example module"
enable "src/example-module/images.conf"
enable "src/example-module/web_fonts.conf"
disable "src/example-module/not-needed.conf"
omit "src/example-module/not-needed-at-all.conf"

#... more modules ...
`

##### Disabling modules

For example, the “Cross-origin web fonts” snippet is always included in
our pre-built .htaccess file and enabled. If your project does not deal
with web fonts, you can disable or omit this section:

This will comment out the section:

`apache
disable "h5bp/cross-origin/web_fonts.conf"
`

…and this will exclude the section, saving lines in output:

`apache
omit "h5bp/cross-origin/web_fonts.conf"
`

##### Enabling modules

For example, the “Forcing https://” snippet is disabled by default,
although being included in our pre-built .htaccess. To enable this
snippet, change the disable keyword to enable:

`apache
enable "h5bp/rewrites/rewrite_http_to_https.conf"
`

##### Adding custom modules

Imagine you're passing all requests to non-existing files to your
favorite web framework. The according
_mod_dir_
snippet would go like this:

`apache
FallbackResource index.php
`

Store this snippet in a file, e.g. config/framework_rewrites.conf, and add
a reference in your htaccess.conf:

`apache


PROJECT MODULES


enable "config/framework_rewrites.conf"
`

#### Build script: build.sh

Dive into your project root and call the build script from wherever you cloned
the repo. Here are three examples:

1. Create a default .htaccess

Create a default .htaccess in the current work directory. An existing
htaccess.conf in this directory will be used; if none is present, the
default configuration
will apply.


`console
$ path/to/server-configs-apache/bin/build.sh

Output looks like:


[✔] Build .htaccess
[✔] Moved in place: './.htaccess'
`

2. Custom output location

Just add an output path and filename as a parameter. By the way, if there's an
existing .htaccess file, the build script will create a backup.

`console
$ path/to/server-configs-apache/bin/build.sh htdocs/.htaccess
[✔] Build .htaccess
[✔] Create backup: 'htdocs/.htaccess~'
[✔] Moved in place: 'htdocs/.htaccess'
`

3. Custom .htaccess configuration

Why not maintain your personal ~/htaccess.conf? This example creates a
.htaccess in the current work directory, according to your favorite settings
you may have stored in your $HOME directory:

`bash
path/to/server-configs-apache/bin/build.sh ./.htaccess ~/htaccess.conf
``

Support

* Apache v2.4.10+

Contributing

Anyone is welcome to contribute,
however, if you decide to get involved, please take a moment to review
the guidelines:

* Bug reports
* Feature requests
* Pull requests

Acknowledgements

Apache Server Configs is
only possible thanks to all the awesome
contributors!

License

The code is available under the MIT license.