Installing Apache HTTP Web Server 1.3.20

This article describes how to install and test the operation of Apache HTTP Web Server on a Solaris SPARC machine from files downloaded from the Apache Software Foundation Web site, httpd.apache.org. Apache HTTP Web Server is available in a source code or binary distribution. The following steps cover how to install compiled Apache HTTP Web Server binaries and then verify that the installed product runs properly. If you do not find the appropriate binary distribution on the Apache Software Foundation Web site, follow the instructions on that site for compiling and installing the appropriate source code distribution.

It is recommended that you install Apache HTTP Web 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 might function incorrectly.

These instructions assume the following:

  • You do not have a previous version of Apache Web Server already installed on your machine. If you do have a previous version of Apache Web Server installed, you might need to perform migration tasks based on the version installed. In this case, do not follow these instructions. Instead, refer to Apache product documentation on the Apache Software Foundation Documentation Web site at httpd.apache.org/docs/.
  • Your machine has enough memory and disk space for your installation.

Installing Apache HTTP Web Server

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

  1. If you have not already done so, see the WebSphere Application Server Supported Hardware, Software, and APIs Web site at www.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/doc/latest/prereq.html to learn what level of Apache HTTP Web Server you need to download.
  2. Download the appropriate binary distribution of Apache Web Server from the Apache Software Foundation Web site at httpd.apache.org. Follow the steps given to download the file.
  3. Ensure that you are logged into the host machine with superuser (root) privileges.
  4. Move to the directory containing the downloaded file.
  5. Uncompress and untar any .tar.gz file you downloaded to extract the Apache HTTP Web Server files.
  6. Ensure that you are in the directory containing the uncompressed and untarred Apache HTTP Web Server files.
  7. Install the Apache HTTP Web Server binaries by executing the installation script install-bindist.sh, as follows:
    # ./install-bindist.sh

    Apache HTTP Web 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 path name of that directory as an option to the install-bindist.sh installation script.

  8. To change the default configuration of the Apache HTTP Web Server, edit the httpd.conf, srm.conf, and access.conf files as necessary. For more information about editing these files and using Apache HTTP Web Server run-time configuration directives, go to the Apache Software Foundation Web site httpd.apache.org/docs/mod/directives.html.

Testing the installation of Apache HTTP Web Server

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

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

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

  2. Open a Web browser and enter the name of the host machine as the Uniform Resource Locator (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 Web Server is running properly. Note that you might need to adjust the server's configuration for it to run optimally on your machine. See the product documentation at the Apache Software Foundation Documentation Web site at httpd.apache.org/docs for more information.

When these steps are complete, Apache HTTP Web Server is installed and operating correctly. If you are going to install Websphere Application Server, you must stop Apache HTTP Web Server.

Stopping Apache HTTP Web Server

Before installing WebSphere Application Server, stop Apache HTTP Web Server by entering the following command:

# /usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl stop 
A message informs you that the server is stopped.