Apache HTTP Server Version 2.4 installation & SSL Configuration

1.  Download: http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi

2.  Extract: gzip -d httpd-NN.tar.gz | cd httpd-NN

3.  Configure:

./configure –prefix=PREFIX  (PREFIX must be replaced with the filesystem path under which the server should be installed. If PREFIX is not specified, it defaults to /usr/local/apache2.)

Eg: #./configure --prefix=/usr/local/apache2 --with-included-apr --enable-ssl --enable-so

Or

#./configure --with-included-apr --enable-ssl --enable-so

With pcre:
./configure --with-included-apr --with-pcre=/opt/apache/httpd-2.4.6/srclib/pcre/pcre-config --enable-ssl --enable-so

4.  Compile: #make

5.  Install: #make install

6.  Test: PREFIX/bin/apachectl –k start

Requirements

1.  APR and APR-Util: download the latest versions of both APR and APR-Util from http://apr.apache.org/ un-tar them into ./srclib/apr and ./srclib/apr-util (be sure the domain names do not have version numbers;and keep this two files APR and APR-Util in httpd-2.4.6/srclib.Remove the version number. for example, the APR distribution must be under ./srclib/apr/) and use ./configure's --with-included-apr  option.

2.  Perl-Compatible Regular Expressions Library (PCRE: This library is required but no longer bundled with httpd. Download the source code from http://www.pcre.org, or install a Port or Package.1.  keep this pcre files in httpd-2.4.6/srclib.Remove the version number.

Enable SSL in httpd.conf

Apache configuration file httpd.conf is located under PREFIX/apache2/conf       (eg: /usr/local/apache2/conf).

Uncomment the httpd-ssl.conf Include line and the LoadModule ssl_module line in the /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf file.

# vi /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf

LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so

Include conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf

View the httpd-ssl.conf to review all the default SSL configurations. For most cases, you don’t need to modify anything in this file.

# vi /usr/local/apache2/conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf

The SSL certificate and key are required before we start the Apache. The server.crt and server.key file mentioned in the httpd-ssl.conf needs to be created before we move forward.

# cd /usr/local/apache2/conf/extra

# egrep 'server.crt|server.key' httpd-ssl.conf

SSLCertificateFile "/usr/local/apache2/conf/server.crt"

SSLCertificateKeyFile "/usr/local/apache2/conf/server.key"

Create server.crt and server.key file

First, Generate the server.key using openssl.

# cd /usr/src

# openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 1024

The above command will ask for the password. Make sure to remember this password. You need this while starting your Apache later.

Next, generate a certificate request file (server.csr) using the above server.key file.

# openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr

Finally, generate a self signed ssl certificate (server.crt) using the above server.key and server.csr file.

# openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt

After you’ve done with the above steps, you’ll see the following three files under /usr/src

# ls server*

server.crt  server.csr  server.key

Copy the server.key and server.crt file to appropriate Apache configuration directory location.

cp server.key /usr/local/apache2/conf/

cp server.crt /usr/local/apache2/conf/

Start the Apache

If you are getting the below error message, make sure to uncomment the line shown below in httpd.conf

# /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start

AH00526: Syntax error on line 51 of /usr/local/apache2/conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf:

Invalid command 'SSLCipherSuite', perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration

# vi /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf

LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so

If you are getting the below error message, make sure to uncomment the line shown below in httpd.conf

# /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start

AH00526: Syntax error on line 76 of /usr/local/apache2/conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf:

SSLSessionCache: 'shmcb' session cache not supported (known names: ). Maybe you need to load the appropriate socache module (mod_socache_shmcb?).

# vi /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf

LoadModule socache_shmcb_module modules/mod_socache_shmcb.so

Finally, this will prompt you to enter the password for your private key before starting up the apache.

# /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start

Apache/2.4.2 mod_ssl (Pass Phrase Dialog)

Some of your private key files are encrypted for security reasons.

In order to read them you have to provide the pass phrases.

Server www.example.com:443 (RSA)

Enter pass phrase:

OK: Pass Phrase Dialog successful.

Verify that the Apache httpd process is running in the background

# ps -ef | grep http

root   29529     1  0 13:08 ?     00:00:00 /usr/local/apache2/bin/httpd -k start

daemon 29530 29529  0 13:08 ?     00:00:00 /usr/local/apache2/bin/httpd -k start

daemon 29531 29529  0 13:08 ?     00:00:00 /usr/local/apache2/bin/httpd -k start

daemon 29532 29529  0 13:08 ?     00:00:00 /usr/local/apache2/bin/httpd -k start

root   29616 18260  0 13:09 pts/0 00:00:00 grep http

To stop the apache use apachectl stop.

# /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl stop

Use httpd -l to view all the modules that are compiled inside the Apache httpd daemon.

# /usr/local/apache2/bin/httpd -l

Compiled in modules:

  core.c

  mod_so.c

  http_core.c

  event.c

By default Apache SSL runs on 443 port. Open a web browser and verify that you can access your Apache using https://{your-ip-address}.