Configure the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file

http://tldp.org/LDP/solrhe/Securing-Optimizing-Linux-RH-Edition-v1.3/chap29sec245.html

29.9. Configure the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file

The httpd.conf file is the main configuration file for the Apache web server. A lot options exist, and it's important to read the documentation that comes with Apache for more information on different settings and parameters. The following configuration example is a minimal working configuration file for Apache, with SSL support. Also, it's important to note that we only comment the parameters that relate to security and optimization, and leave all the others to your own research.

Edit the httpd.conf file, vi /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf and add/change:

### Section 1: Global Environment # ServerType standalone ServerRoot "/etc/httpd" PidFile /var/run/httpd.pid ResourceConfig /dev/null AccessConfig /dev/null Timeout 300 KeepAlive On MaxKeepAliveRequests 0 KeepAliveTimeout 15 MinSpareServers 16 MaxSpareServers 64 StartServers 16 MaxClients 512 MaxRequestsPerChild 100000 ### Section 2: 'Main' server configuration # Port 80 Listen 80 Listen 443 User www Group www ServerAdmin admin@openna.com ServerName www.openna.com DocumentRoot "/home/httpd/ona" Options None AllowOverride None Order deny,allow Deny from all Options None AllowOverride None Order allow,deny Allow from all Options None AllowOverride None Order deny,allow Deny from all DirectoryIndex index.htm index.html index.php index.php3 default.html index.cgi # #Include conf/mmap.conf # UseCanonicalName On TypesConfig /etc/httpd/conf/mime.types DefaultType text/plain HostnameLookups Off ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/error_log LogLevel warn LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" combined SetEnvIf Request_URI \.gif$ gif-image CustomLog /var/log/httpd/access_log combined env=!gif-image ServerSignature Off ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/home/httpd/cgi-bin/" AllowOverride None Options None Order allow,deny Allow from all AddEncoding x-compress Z AddEncoding x-gzip gz tgz AddType application/x-tar .tgz ErrorDocument 500 "The server made a boo boo. ErrorDocument 404 http://192.168.1.1/error.htm ErrorDocument 403 "Access Forbidden -- Go away. BrowserMatch "Mozilla/2" nokeepalive BrowserMatch "MSIE 4\.0b2;" nokeepalive downgrade-1.0 force-response-1.0 BrowserMatch "RealPlayer 4\.0" force-response-1.0 BrowserMatch "Java/1\.0" force-response-1.0 BrowserMatch "JDK/1\.0" force-response-1.0 ### Section 3: Virtual Hosts # AddType application/x-x509-ca-cert .crt AddType application/x-pkcs7-crl .crl SSLPassPhraseDialog builtin SSLSessionCache dbm:/var/run/ssl_scache SSLSessionCacheTimeout 300 SSLMutex file:/var/run/ssl_mutex SSLRandomSeed startup builtin SSLRandomSeed connect builtin SSLLog /var/log/httpd/ssl_engine_log SSLLogLevel warn DocumentRoot "/home/httpd/ona" ServerName www.openna.com ServerAdmin admin@openna.com ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/error_log SSLEngine on SSLCipherSuite ALL:!ADH:RC4+RSA:+HIGH:+MEDIUM:+LOW:+SSLv2:+EXP:+eNULL SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/server.crt SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/server.key SSLCACertificatePath /etc/ssl/certs SSLCACertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/ca.crt SSLCARevocationPath /etc/ssl/crl SSLVerifyClient none SSLVerifyDepth 10 SSLOptions +ExportCertData +StrictRequire SetEnvIf User-Agent ".*MSIE.*" nokeepalive ssl-unclean-shutdown SetEnvIf Request_URI \.gif$ gif-image CustomLog /var/log/httpd/ssl_request_log \ "%t %h %{SSL_PROTOCOL}x %{SSL_CIPHER}x \"%r\" %b" env=!gif-image

This tells httpd.conf file to set itself up for this particular configuration setup with:

ServerType standalone

The option ServerType specifies how Apache should run on the system. You can run it from the super-server inetd, or as standalone daemon. It's highly recommended to run Apache in standalone type for better performance and speed.

ServerRoot "/etc/httpd"

The option ServerRoot specifies the directory in which the configuration files of the Apache server lives. It allows Apache to know where it can find its configuration files when it starts.

PidFile /var/run/httpd.pid

The option PidFile specifies the location where the server will record the process id of the daemon when it starts. This option is only required when you configure Apache in standalone mode.

ResourceConfig /dev/null

The option ResourceConfig specifies the location of the old srm.conf file that Apache read after it finished reading the httpd.conf file. When you set the location to /dev/null, Apache allows you to include the content of this file in httpd.conf file, and in this manner, you have just one file that handles all your configuration parameters for simplicity.

AccessConfig /dev/null

The option AccessConfig specifies the location of the old access.conf file that Apache read after it finished reading the srm.conf file. When you set the location to /dev/null, Apache allows you to include the content of this file in httpd.conf file, and in this manner, you have just one file that handles all your configuration parameters for simplicity.

Timeout 300

The option Timeout specifies the amount of time Apache will wait for a GET, POST, PUT request and ACKs on transmissions. You can safely leave this option on its default values.

KeepAlive On

The option KeepAlive, if set to On, specifies enabling persistent connections on this web server. For better performance, it's recommended to set this option to On, and allow more than one request per connection.

MaxKeepAliveRequests 0

The option MaxKeepAliveRequests specifies the number of requests allowed per connection when the KeepAlive option above is set to On. When the value of this option is set to 0 then unlimited requests are allowed on the server. For server performance, it's recommended to allow unlimited requests.

KeepAliveTimeout 15

The option KeepAliveTimeout specifies how much time, in seconds, Apache will wait for a subsequent request before closing the connection. The value of 15 seconds is a good average for server performance.

MinSpareServers 16

The option MinSpareServers specifies the minimum number of idle child server processes for Apache, which is not handling a request. This is an important tuning parameter regarding the performance of the Apache web server. For high load operation, a value of 16 is recommended by various benchmarks on the Internet.

MaxSpareServers 64

The option MaxSpareServers specifies the maximum number of idle child server processes for Apache, which is not handling a request. This is also an important tuning parameter regarding the performance of the Apache web server. For high load operation, a value of 64 is recommended by various benchmarks on the Internet.

StartServers 16

The option StartServers specifies the number of child server processes that will be created by Apache on start-up. This is, again, an important tuning parameter regarding the performance of the Apache web server. For high load operation, a value of 16 is recommended by various benchmarks on the Internet.

MaxClients 512

The option MaxClients specifies the number of simultaneous requests that can be supported by Apache. This too is an important tuning parameter regarding the performance of the Apache web server. For high load operation, a value of 512 is recommended by various benchmarks on the Internet.

MaxRequestsPerChild 100000

The option MaxRequestsPerChild specifies the number of requests that an individual child server process will handle. This too is an important tuning parameter regarding the performance of the Apache web server.

User www

The option User specifies the UID that Apache server will run as. It's important to create a new user that has minimal access to the system, and functions just for the purpose of running the web server daemon.

Group www

The option Group specifies the GID the Apache server will run as. It's important to create a new group that has minimal access to the system and functions just for the purpose of running the web server daemon.

DirectoryIndex index.htm index.html index.php index.php3 default.html index.cgi

The option DirectoryIndex specifies the files to use by Apache as a pre-written HTML directory index. In other words, if Apache can't find the default index page to display, it'll try the next entry in this parameter, if available. To improve performance of your web server it's recommended to list the most used default index pages of your web site first.

Include conf/mmap.conf

The option Include specifies the location of other files that you can include from within the server configuration files httpd.conf. In our case, we include the mmap.conf file located under /etc/httpd/conf directory. This file mmap.conf maps files into memory for faster serving. See the section on Optimizing Apache for more information.

HostnameLookups Off

The option HostnameLookups, if set to Off, specifies the disabling of DNS lookups. It's recommended to set this option to Off in order to save the network traffic time, and to improve the performance of your Apache web server.