Installation guide

Chapter 14. Apache HTTP Server 189
Note
If you are running the Apache HTTP Server as a secure server, you will be prompted for the secure
server’s password after the machine boots, unless you generated a specific type of server key file.
For information about setting up an Apache HTTP Secure Server see the chapter titled Apache HTTP
Secure Server Configuration in the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide.
14.5. Configuration Directives in httpd.conf
The Apache HTTP Server configuration file is /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf. The httpd.conf
file is well-commented and mostly self-explanatory. Its default configuration will work for most situ-
ations, however you should become familiar some of the more important configuration options.
Warning
With the release of Apache HTTP Server 2.0, many configuration options have changed. If you need
to migrate a version 1.3 configuration file to the new format, refer to Section 14.2.
If you need to configure the Apache HTTP Server, edit httpd.conf and then either reload, restart,
or stop and start the httpd process. How to reload, stop and start the Apache HTTP Server is covered
in Section 14.4.
Before you edit httpd.conf, you should first copy the original file to something like httpd.conf-
old, for example. By creating a backup, you can recover potential mistakes made while editing the
new configuration file.
If you do make a mistake and your Web server does not work correctly, first review what you have
recently edited in httpd.conf. Make sure there are no typos.
Next look in the Web server’s error log (/var/log/httpd/error_log). The error log may not be
easy to interpret, depending on your level of experience. If you have just experienced a problem,
however, the last entries in the error log should provide information about what happened.
The next sections provide short descriptions of the directives included in httpd.conf. These
descriptions are not exhaustive. If you need more information, refer to the Apache documentation
provided in HTML format at http://localhoast/manual/ or the Apache group documentation at
http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/.
For more information about mod_ssl directives, refer to the documentation included in HTML
format at http://localhost/mod/mod_ssl.html or the Apache group mod_ssl documentation at
http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/mod/mod_ssl.html.
14.5.1. ServerRoot
The ServerRoot is the top-level directory which contains the server’s files. Both your secure and
non-secure servers are set to use a ServerRoot of "/etc/httpd".
14.5.2. LockFile
LockFile sets the path to the lockfile used when httpd is compiled with either
USE_FCNTL_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT or USE_FLOCK_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT. LockFile should be
left at its default value.