Setup httpd as os-service on OL8.x

This article will help you to setup Apache httpd as an OS service on OL8.x releases

NOTE - should be run using sudo/root privileges.

STEP 1 - Verify Package 

before you install httpd as an OS service - confirm if it is already installed in your server by running any command as below

$ systemctl status httpd or ​​​​​​​rpm -qi httpd

​​​​​​​if the system is unable to find the service, proceed to the next step

  

STEP 2 - Install httpd

$ yum install httpd

this will install the latest package available from the server repository - at the time of writing this article 2.4.37 is the latest offering by Oracle in OL8.x

upon successful installation, you should able to see the httpd package available now.

STEP 3 - verify package post-installation 

$ systemctl status httpd

the above confirms the package is installed now, however at default the service is inctive and disabled

STEP 4 - Start the service

$ systemctl start httpd
$ systemctl status httpd

this shows apache is up and running now, check the process by running the regular ps command

$ ps -ef  | grep httpd

the conf file of this package can be found under - /etc/httpd/conf

verify the newly installed apache by running the following commands

$ httpd -v
$ rpm -qi httpd

Additionally, you can set this apache instance as an auto boot-up service post VM reboot by running the following command -

$ sudo chkconfig httpd on

How to configure 2nd Instance of Apache in the same server

Copy the whole httpd configure directory "/etc/httpd" to "/etc/httpd1"

$ cp -fr /etc/httpd /etc/httpd1

Modify the httpd directives which may be a conflict if running multiple instances at the same time in file "/etc/httpd1/conf/httpd.conf"

ServerRoot
Listen
PidFile
ErrorLog
CustomLog

For example, we changed as following in "/etc/httpd1/conf/httpd.conf" for 2nd Instance

ServerRoot /etc/httpd1
Listen 8080
PidFile run/httpd1.pid
ErrorLog logs/httpd1_error_log
CustomLog logs/httpd1_access_log combined

Start Apaches

$ httpd -f /etc/httpd1/conf/httpd1.conf -k start
$ httpd -f /etc/httpd/conf/httpd1.conf -k start

How to configure SSL module

install the mod_ssl module by running the following command -

$ yum -y install mod_ssl

it will install the required module and place it under

/usr/lib64/httpd/modules/mod_ssl.so

load this module in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf as -

LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so

configuration requires certificates and start the httpd service as usual

How to install a Signed Certificate into Apache Instance

Generate CSR, that will generate server.key & server.csr
​​​​​​​
$ openssl req -new -newkey rsa:4096 -nodes -keyout server.key -out server.csr

Get CSR signed by an authorized CA

Copy the server/end-entity certificate provided by CA into a server.crt file Update the certificate & key file into ssl.conf & comment the default self-signed certificate.

$ vi /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf

#SSLCertificateFile /etc/pki/tls/certs/localhost.crt
SSLCertificateFile "/etc/httpd/ssl/server.crt"

#SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/pki/tls/private/localhost.key
SSLCertificatekeyFile "/etc/httpd/ssl/server.key"

restart your httpd service

You should be able to access index.html on HTTPS now.

In case of a self-signed certificate

Configure the SSL module as mentioned above and add port 443 in the following lines in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf and restart the Apache.

Listen 80
Listen 443

ServerName 10.20.30.40:80
ServerName 10.20.30.40:443

Please note that with the self-signed certificate, you will get a warning while testing on https://$hostname:443/ because self-signed certificate is the problem, the browser could not trust the server due to its certificate signed by itself but not by a trusted certificate authority (CA).​​​
​​​​
​​​​​​​Known Issue -

After enabling mod_wl_24.so for the WebLogic proxy you might see the following issue while starting the httpd service -

cannot load modules/mod_wl_24.so into server: libdms2.so: cannot open shared object file:

How to fix - 

Since systemctl by default does not load LD_LIBRARY_PATH so you need to manually configure it.

$ vi /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service

Under [Service] add the following line -

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:/usr/lib64

Reload system daemon

$ systemctl daemon-reload​​​​​​​

Now copy only the missing modules or libs from /usr/lib64/httpd/modules/ to /usr/lib64/

Ex -
cp -rp /usr/lib64/httpd/modules/libonssys.so  /usr/lib64/
cp -rp /usr/lib64/httpd/modules/libonsssl.so  /usr/lib64/
cp -rp /usr/lib64/httpd/modules/libdms2.so    /usr/lib64/

restart httpd

$ systemctl start httpd