Apache web server setup

Apache Web Server Setup

Apache HTTP Server is a mature web server with a modular architecture. Widely used on shared hosting, integrated with PHP through mod_php or mod_proxy_fcgi, in corporate environments with LDAP/Kerberos.

Installation and basic modules

apt install -y apache2
a2enmod rewrite ssl headers proxy proxy_fcgi setenvif http2
systemctl restart apache2

VirtualHost for Laravel

# /etc/apache2/sites-available/myapp.conf
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com

    DocumentRoot /var/www/myapp/current/public

    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile    /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem
    Protocols h2 http/1.1

    # Security headers
    Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains"
    Header always set X-Frame-Options "DENY"
    Header always set X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"

    <Directory /var/www/myapp/current/public>
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
        Options -Indexes
    </Directory>

    # PHP-FPM via socket
    <FilesMatch \.php$>
        SetHandler "proxy:unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost"
    </FilesMatch>

    # Static assets - cache
    <FilesMatch "\.(css|js|jpg|png|gif|ico|svg|woff2)$">
        Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=31536000, immutable"
    </FilesMatch>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/myapp-error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/myapp-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

.htaccess for Laravel

# public/.htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    <IfModule mod_negotiation.c>
        Options -MultiViews -Indexes
    </IfModule>

    RewriteEngine On

    # HTTPS redirect (if not handled by VirtualHost)
    RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
    RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

    # Allow access to existing files
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

    # Redirect everything to index.php
    RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# Disable server version output
ServerSignature Off

# Deny access to .env
<Files ".env">
    Require all denied
</Files>

Performance

# /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/mpm_event.conf
<IfModule mpm_event_module>
    StartServers          2
    MinSpareThreads      25
    MaxSpareThreads      75
    ThreadLimit          64
    ThreadsPerChild      25
    MaxRequestWorkers   150
    MaxConnectionsPerChild 0
</IfModule>

# Enable gzip
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
    AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html text/css application/json application/javascript
    DeflateCompressionLevel 6
</IfModule>

# mod_expires
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
    ExpiresActive On
    ExpiresByType text/css              "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType image/jpeg            "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType image/png             "access plus 1 year"
</IfModule>

Rate Limiting via mod_ratelimit

a2enmod ratelimit

# In VirtualHost
SetOutputFilter RATE_LIMIT
SetEnv rate-limit 400    # 400 KB/s

Reverse Proxy

a2enmod proxy proxy_http

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyPass        / http://127.0.0.1:3000/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:3000/

    RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto "https"
    RequestHeader set X-Real-IP %{REMOTE_ADDR}s
</VirtualHost>

Apache vs Nginx

Apache is preferable when: .htaccess is needed (shared hosting), mod_php is used, there are complex per-directory configs, specific Apache modules are required. In other cases Nginx shows better performance on static content and lower memory consumption.

Timeline

Basic Apache setup with PHP-FPM: 1 day. Performance and security optimization: +1 day.