Simple configuration and administration of Apache on Ubuntu 9.04/

brianpbarnes · 04-29-2009, 01:38 PM

Hi,
Back the the olden days, I would compile Perl and Apache/mod_perl from source and have everything in /usr/local/apache2; logs, conf, cgi-bin, ... My httpd.conf file had about a dozen lines in it. Easy to backup, understand and administer.

I am setting up a simple, development web server on Ubu 9.04, which I am generally impressed with, except for Apache setup and administration. I used Synaptic to get it to the point where http://localhost says "It Works". I am trying to add just a few directories, modules, aliases, etc. I could not even find cgi-bin without wandering through what I hope to be the main config file, /etc/apache2/apache2.conf and grepping the output of find on directories it listed.

Synaptic has ~700 packages found by searching on "apache". "Apache administration" finds twice that many as though I wanted anything apache OR administration. Google gives you the intersection of all of the search terms, not the union. Bug? Egad!

Looking at the spaghetti layout, I find 15 different directories and about a dozen config files reminiscent of Hillary's 1000 page health care master plan. I find no admin tools in any of the installed menus. I compare it to my production Suse 11.0 server which I setup with tools that Suse installed, and find a vastly more complicated and completely dissimilar layout.

I realize that I installed the Workstation, not the server, but is there a simple tool set to handle my most modest needs? Or, would it be less problematic to rip out everything and go back to the /usr/local/apache2 layout?

A tool I find very easy and useful is MysqlAdmin. It has a GUI, shows menus of all of your options, a reasonable amount of explanation on each and it writes 1 configuration file. VirtualBox is another good example of a slick tool. Samba has a concise web interface. These are my speed.

I would like to stick with packages available through stock, Synaptic packages. I searched for "webmin" and got zero hits. "Webmin-apache" gives me the same ~700 packages related to apache. I found a few hits on google, but I would rather not install multiple, conflicting packeges from numerous vendors, each of which thinks it owns my system, stomping on other packages and breaking software -> update.

I am trying to build a garage, not the Pentagon. Which Ubu -> synaptic web server admin tools would suit me?

Thank you,

BrianP

farslayer · 04-29-2009, 01:52 PM

you can grab webmin directly from their website. http://www.webmin.com/download.html

Webmin was pulled from Debian repos because the guy maintaining the packages for Debian was tired of the work, and got no assistance when he asked...
dpkg -i webmin_1.470_all

When searching for packages you can use grep to reduce what is returned..

show me just apache2 packages containing the keyword perl

Code:

user@it-lenny:~$ aptitude search apache2 | grep perl
p   libapache2-authcassimple-perl   - Apache2 module to authentificate trough a 
p   libapache2-authenntlm-perl      - Perform Microsoft NTLM and Basic User Auth
p   libapache2-mod-perl2            - Integration of perl with the Apache2 web s
p   libapache2-mod-perl2-dev        - Integration of perl with the Apache2 web s
p   libapache2-mod-perl2-doc        - Integration of perl with the Apache2 web s
p   libapache2-mod-speedycgi        - apache2 module to speed up perl scripts by
p   libapache2-reload-perl          - Reload Perl modules when changed on disk  
p   libapache2-request-perl         - generic Apache request library - Perl modu

Show me all installed packages containing the word apache

Code:

user@it-lenny:~$ aptitude search ~i | grep apache
i   apache2                         - Apache HTTP Server metapackage            
i A apache2-mpm-prefork             - Apache HTTP Server - traditional non-threa
i A apache2-utils                   - utility programs for webservers           
i   apache2.2-common                - Apache HTTP Server common files

Makes searching much more manageable..

brianpbarnes · 04-29-2009, 05:16 PM

Farslayer,
I asked 1 mediocre question and got 3 great answers. Webmin is slick and appears to do everything I need now and far into the future. I see the utility of Aptitude over synaptic too. Thanks!!!

I knew there had to be a reason that Apache had mutated into such an incomprehensibly complicated server. I was concerned that microsoft might have embraced it and catastrophically misoverengineered it to extinguish it. It can only be (easily) tamed with a good management tool like Webmin.

I sure am glad I didn't gut it and manually build a skeleton for my immediate needs.

Thanks 1E6,

BrianP

farslayer · 04-29-2009, 06:45 PM

Since you seem to be interested in Aptitude I'll throw in the links for the aptitude command line guide.. Aptitude is very useful, and I find it easier and faster to use from the command line than trying to find what I need in the synaptic GUI.

http://algebraicthunk.net/~dburrows/...n/ch01s02.html
http://algebraicthunk.net/~dburrows/.../rn01re01.html

Glad you found that information useful.

Cheers !!