Installing Apache HTTP Server 1.3.20

This article describes how to do the following:

  • Install Apache HTTP Server on an AIX machine from files downloaded from the Apache HTTP Server Download Web site at httpd.apache.org/dist.
  • Test the installation of Apache HTTP Server
  • .

These instructions assume the following:

  • Your machine has enough memory and disk space for the installation. See the Apache HTTP Server documentation Web site at www.apache.org/docs for more information.
  • You do not have a previous version of Apache HTTP Server already installed on your machine. If you do have a previous version of Apache HTTP Server installed, you must remove it before installing Apache HTTP Server 1.3.20. See the Apache HTTP Server documentation Web site at www.apache.org/docs for more information.

Note: It is recommended that you install Apache HTTP Server before installing WebSphere Application Server. The WebSphere Application Server installation process changes a Web server's configuration so that the Web server directs certain requests (such as servlet requests) to WebSphere Application Server. If the Web server is not installed before WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Application Server could function incorrectly.

Installing Apache HTTP Server from downloaded files

You can install Apache HTTP Server from a binary distribution downloaded from the Apache Software Foundation Web site at httpd.apache.org/dist. Note that binary distributions of Apache HTTP Server are provided for your convenience; current distributions for specific platforms are not always available.

Perform the following steps to install Apache HTTP Server from a downloaded .tar.gz file:

  1. Ensure that you are logged into the machine with superuser (root) privileges.
  2. Download the appropriate binary distribution of Apache HTTP Server from the Apache Software Foundation Web site at httpd.apache.org/dist.
  3. Uncompress the .tar.gz file you downloaded by using the gunzip utility, as follows:
    # gzip -d file_name.tar.gz

    In this command, file_name is the name of the compressed .tar.gz file you downloaded.

  4. Untar the compressed .tar file to extract the Apache HTTP Server filesets by using the tar command, as follows:
    # tar -xvf file_name.tar

    In this command, file_name is the name of the uncompressed .tar file.

  5. Ensure that you are in the directory containing the uncompressed and untarred Apache HTTP Server files.
  6. Install the Apache HTTP Server binaries by executing the installation script install-bindist.sh, as follows:
    # ./install-bindist.sh

    The Apache HTTP Server is installed in the /usr/local/apache directory, by default. If you want to install the server in a different directory, enter the full pathname of that directory as an option to the install-bindist.sh installation script.

  7. To change the default configuration of the Apache HTTP Server, edit the httpd.conf, srm.conf, and access.conf files as necessary. See the Apache Directives Web site at www.apache.org/docs/mod/directives.html for more information about editing these files and using Apache HTTP Server runtime directives.

Testing installation of Apache HTTP Server

Perform the following steps to verify that the Apache HTTP Server is installed correctly:

  1. Start the server by entering the httpd command, as follows:
    # /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd 

    The httpd command attempts to locate the httpd.conf file in the default directory, /usr/local/apache. If the httpd.conf file is located in a different directory, you can specify the full pathname of the httpd.conf file by using the -f option.

  2. Start a Web browser and enter the name of the host machine as the URL (http://host_machine). If you see a Web site that contains links to the Apache Software Foundation Web site and the Powered by Apache logo, the Apache HTTP Server is running properly. Note that you possibly need to adjust the server's configuration for it to run optimally on your machine. For more information, see the Apache HTTP Server documentation Web site at www.apache.org/docs.