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cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<!DOCTYPE manualpage SYSTEM "/style/manualpage.dtd">

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="/style/manual.en.xsl"?>

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cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<manualpage metafile="getting-started.xml.meta">

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm <title>Getting Started</title>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<summary>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<p>If you're completely new to the Apache HTTP Server, or even to running

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colma website at all, you might not know where to start, or what questions to

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmask. This document walks you through the basics.</p>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm</summary>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<section id="clientserver">

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<title>Clients, Servers, and URLs</title>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<p>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmAddresses on the Web are expressed with URLs - Uniform Resource Locators

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm- which specify a protocol (e.g. <code>http</code>), a servername (e.g.

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<code>www.apache.org</code>), a URL-path (e.g.

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<code>/docs/current/getting-started.html</code>), and possibly a query

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmstring (e.g. <code>?arg=value</code>) used to pass additional

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmarguments to the server.

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm</p>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<p>A client (e.g., a web browser) connects to a server (e.g., your Apache HTTP Server),

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmwith the specified protocol, and makes a <strong>request</strong> for a resource using the

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmURL-path.</p>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<p>The URL-path may represent any number of things on the server. It may

37ad54b8fd2611b7a4f2b269eec3d27ed784a25dwrowebe a file (like <code>getting-started.html</code>) a handler (like <a

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmhref="mod/mod_status.html">server-status</a>) or some kind of program

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmfile (like <code>index.php</code>). We'll discuss this more below in

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmthe <a href="#content">Web Site Content</a> section.</p>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wrowe<p>

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wroweThe server will send a <strong>response</strong> consisting of a status

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wrowecode and, optionally, a response body.

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wroweThe status code indicates whether the request was successful, and, if not, what

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wrowekind of error condition there was. This tells the client what it should

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wrowedo with the response. You can read about the possible response codes in

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wrowe<a href="http://wiki.apache.org/httpd/CommonHTTPStatusCodes">HTTP Server

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wrowewiki</a>.</p>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<p>Details of the transaction, and any error conditions, are written to

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmlog files. This is discussed in greater detail below in the <a

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmhref="#logs">Logs Files and Troubleshooting</a> section.</p>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm</section>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<section id="dns">

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<title>Hostnames and DNS</title>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<p>In order to connect to a server, the client will first have to resolve

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmthe servername to an IP address - the location on the Internet where the

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmserver resides. Thus, in order for your web server to be reachable, it

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmis necessary that the servername be in DNS.</p>

5ac28f3fe2417368757f29cf381338357605fd52wrowe

e1ad80c048e29e968221817698529d73098f07a4wrowe<p>More than one hostname may point to the same IP address, and more

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmthan one IP address can be attached to the same physical server. Thus, you

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmcan run more than one web site on the same physical server, using a

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmfeature called <a href="vhosts/">virtual hosts</a>.</p>

37ad54b8fd2611b7a4f2b269eec3d27ed784a25dwrowe

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<p>If you don't know how to do this, you'll need to contact your network

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmadministrator, or Internet service provider, to perform this step for

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmyou.</p>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wrowe<p>If you are testing a server that is not Internet-accessible, you

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wrowecan put host names in your hosts file in order to do local resolution.

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wroweFor example, you might want to put a record in your hosts file to map a

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wrowerequest for <code>www.example.com</code> to your local system, for

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wrowetesting purposes. This entry would look like:</p>

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wrowe

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wrowe<example>

94b262d3639149df0b02642a9daa6db8bff58577wrowe127.0.0.1 www.example.com

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm</example>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<p>A hosts file will probably be located at <code>/etc/hosts</code> or

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<code>C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts</code>.</p>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<p>You can read more about the hosts file at <a

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmhref="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file)">Wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file)</a>, and

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmmore about DNS at <a

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmhref="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System">Wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System</a>.</p>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm</section>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<section id="configuration">

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<title>Configuration Files and Directives</title>

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<p>The Apache HTTP Server is configured via simple text files.

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmThese files may be located any of a variety of places, depending on how

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmexactly you installed the server. Common locations for these files may

8c8173f49dd7122e10636b3d20ae841551bd0b43wrowebe found <a href="http://wiki.apache.org/httpd/DistrosDefaultLayout">in

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmthe httpd wiki</a>. If you installed httpd from source, the default

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colmlocation of the configuration files is

cdc8a6031f3f851a21859bc0c4e54ffd33ac8094colm<code>/usr/local/apache2/conf</code>. The default configuration file is

usually called <code>httpd.conf</code>. This, too, can vary in

third-party distributions of the server.</p>

<p>The configuration is frequently broken into multiple smaller files,

for ease of management. These files are loaded via the <directive

module="core">Include</directive> directive. The names or locations of

these sub-files are not magical, and may vary greatly from one

installation to another. Arrange and subdivide these files as

makes the most sense to <strong>you</strong>. If the file arrangement

you have by default doesn't make sense to you, feel free to rerrange it.</p>

<p>The server is configured by placing <a

href="mod/quickreference.html">configuration directives</a> in these

configuration files. A directive is a keyword followed by one or more

arguments that set its value.</p>

<p>The question of "<em>Where should I put that

directive?</em>" is generally answered by considering where you want a

directive to be effective. If it is a global setting, it should appear

in the configuration file, outside of any <directive

type="section">Directory</directive>, <directive

type="section">Location</directive>, <directive

type="section">VirtualHost</directive>, or other section. If it is to

apply only to a particular directory, then it should go inside a

<directive type="section">Directory</directive> section referring to

that directory, and so on. See the <a href="sections.html">Configuration

Sections</a> document for further discussion of these sections.</p>

<p>In addition to the main configuration files, certain directives may go in

<code>.htaccess</code> files located in the content directories.

<code>.htaccess</code> files are primarily for people who do not have

access to the main server configuration file(s). You can read more about

<code>.htaccess</code> files in the <a

href="howto/htaccess.html"><code>.htaccess</code> howto</a>.</p>

</section>

<section id="content">

<title>Web Site Content</title>

<p>Web site content can take many different forms, but may be broadly

divided into static and dynamic content.</p>

<p>Static content is things like HTML files, image files, CSS files,

and other files that reside in the filesystem. The <directive

module="core">DocumentRoot</directive> directive specifies where in your

filesystem you should place these files. This directive is either set

globally, or per virual host. Look in your configuration file(s) to

determine how this is set for your server.</p>

<p>Typically, a document called <code>index.html</code> will be served

when a directory is requested without a file name being specified. For

example, if <code>DocumentRoot</code> is set to

<code>/var/www/html</code> and a request is made for

<code>http://www.example.com/work/</code>, the file

<code>/var/www/html/work/index.html</code> will be served to the

client.</p>

<p>Dynamic content is anything that is generated at request

time, and may change from one request to another. There are numerous

ways that dynamic content may be generated. Various <a

href="handler.html">handlers</a> are available to generate content. <a

href="howto/cgi.html">CGI programs</a> may be written to generate

content for your site.</p>

<p>Third-party modules like mod_php may be used to write code that does a

variety of things. Many third-party applications, written using a

variety of languages and tools, are available for download and

installation on your Apache HTTP Server. Support of these third-party

things is beyond the scope of this documentation, and you should find

their documentation or other support forums to answer your questions

about them.</p>

</section>

<section id="logs">

<title>Log Files and Troubleshooting</title>

<p>As an Apache HTTP Server administrator, your most valuable assets are

the log files, and, in particular, the error log. Troubleshooting any

problem without the error log is like driving with your eyes closed.</p>

<p>The location of the error log is defined by the <directive

module="core">ErrorLog</directive> directive, which may be set globally,

or per virtual host. Entries in the error log tell you what went wrong,

and when. They often also tell you how to fix it. Each error log message

contains a error code, which you can search for online for even more

detailed descriptions of how to address the problem. You can also

configure your error log to contain a log ID which you can then

correlate to an access log entry, so that you can determine what request

caused the error condition.</p>

<p>You can read more about logging in the <a href="logs.html">logs

documentation</a>.</p>

</section>

<section id="other">

<title>What Else Do I Need To Know?</title>

<p>This document covers only the bare basics. We hope that this gets you

started, but there are many other things that you might need to know.

Here's a partial list of what you might be looking for:</p>

<ul>

<li><a href="howto/auth.html">Authentication and Authorization (password protecting resources)</a></li>

<li><a href="howto/access.html">Access Control</a></li>

<li><a href="ssl/ssl_howto.html">Setting up SSL</a></li>

<li><a href="http://wiki.apache.org/httpd/FAQ">Frequently Asked Questions</a></li>

</ul>

</section>

</manualpage>