Configure Apache HTTP Server V2.2

This topic describes how to change configuration settings for Apache HTTP Server v2.2.

(Dist) Install Apache v2.2 and the latest version of the web server plug-ins.

If we are running IBM HTTP Server (powered by Apache) on IBM i, we can use the manual configuration steps, but IBM recommends that we use the IBM Web Administration for IBM i GUI.

Apache HTTP Server v2.2 is different from IBM HTTP Server (powered by Apache). Apache HTTP Server is not supported on IBM i.

(Dist) After installing the web server plug-ins, we can use the Web Server Plug-ins Configuration Tool to configure a web server plug-in.

This topic describes how to configure the Apache HTTP Server v2.2 Web server. Other procedures in Editing web server configuration files describe configuring other supported web servers.

• If we are using an Apache HTTP Server that supports 64-bit addressing, use the 64-bit CD provided with the WebSphere Application Server product to install the Apache Web Server plug-in binaries. If we use the 32-bit CD, we will receive an error message indicating that the plug-in binaries did not load.

• If we are using an Apache HTTP Server that supports 32-bit addressing, use the 32-bit CD provided with the WAS product to install the Apache Web Server plug-in binaries. If we use the 64-bit CD, we will receive an error message indicating that the plug-in binaries did not load.

A sample error message follows:

httpd: Syntax error on line XXX of /home/apache/conf/httpd.conf: Cannot load /home/apache/Plugins/mod_was_ap22_http.sl into server: Invalid argument

The plug-in was tested with the threaded worker multi-processing module (MPM) on all platforms except Windows. The plug-in was tested with the default threaded MPM on Windows.

The plug-in works with the Apache 2.2 prefork MPM but works best with the worker PM. The plug-in maintains connection pools to backend WASs and uses in-memory caching. These plug-in functions perform most efficiently when Apache is configured to use a single child process with the ThreadsPerChild value equal to the MaxClients value. The plug-in can be used with the prefork MPM or the worker MPM configured with multiple child processes, but at reduced efficiency.

(Dist) Compatibility Statement The plug-in works with versions of the Apache HTTP Server that claim full binary compatibility with Apache 2.0.47 and later, which are built with compilers and compiler options that are compatible with those used to build the plug-in.

Perform the step that configures Apache 2.2 for our operating system.

Examples and messages are shown on more than one line for clarity. Place each directive in a web server configuration file on one line.

Local file path means a file path to the plugin-cfg.xml file on an application server on the same machine as the web server. Remote file path means the file path to the plugin-cfg.xml file when the application server is on a remote machine.

The Web Server Plug-ins Configuration Tool installs a dummy plugin-cfg.xml file during installation, but this file requires periodic propagation from the real file on the application server machine.

The node in the following application server local file paths is web_server_node for a standalone application server or managed_node for a managed node.

The name of the web server definition in the following steps is webserver1.

Tasks

• (iSeries) Configure entries in the httpd.conf file. IBM recommends that we use the IBM Web Administration for IBM i GUI to configure the httpd.conf file.

  Local distributed example (Network Deployment only - the web server is configured in a managed node):

  WebSpherePluginConfig /QIBM/UserData/WebSphere/AppServer/V9/ND/profiles/profile1/config/cells/my_cell/nodes/my_managednode/servers/webserver1/plugin-cfg.xml

  Local standalone example:

  WebSpherePluginConfig /QIBM/UserData/WebSphere/AppServer/V9/ND/profiles/profile1/config/cells/my_cell/nodes/webserver1_node/servers/webserver1/plugin-cfg.xml

  Remote example:

  WebSpherePluginConfig /QIBM/UserData/WebSphere/AppServer/V9/ND/profiles/httpprofile1/config/webserver1/plugin-cfg.xml

• (AIX) Configure entries in the httpd.conf file.

  Use the following examples of the LoadModule and the WebSpherePluginConfig directives as models for configuring the file:

  LoadModule was_ap22_module /usr/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins/bin/<arch>/mod_was_ap22_http.so

  In this example, <arch> is 32bits or 64bits depending on the web server architecture.

  Local distributed example:

  WebSpherePluginConfig profile_root/config/cells/dmgrcell/nodes/managednode/servers/webserver1/plugin-cfg.xml

• (Linux) (Solaris) Configure entries in the httpd.conf file.

  Use the following examples of the LoadModule and the WebSpherePluginConfig directives as models for configuring the file:

  LoadModule was_ap22_module /opt/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins/bin/<arch>/mod_was_ap22_http.so

  In this example, <arch> is 32bits or 64bits depending on the web server architecture.

  Local distributed example:

  WebSpherePluginConfig profile_root/config/cells/dmgrcell/nodes/managednode/servers/webserver1/plugin-cfg.xml

  (Solaris) On the Solaris SPARC 64-bit platform, the Web Server Plug-ins Configuration Tool installs both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the plug-in for Apache 2.2, however it configures the web server to use the 32-bit plug-in only. If the web server is 64-bit, we need to configure the LoadModule directive in the httpd.conf file to use the 64-bit plug-in as follows:

  LoadModule was_ap22_module /usr/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins/bin/64bits/mod_was_ap22_http.so

• (HPUX) Configure entries in the httpd.conf file.

  Use the following examples of the LoadModule and the WebSpherePluginConfig directives as models for configuring the file:

  LoadModule was_ap22_module /opt/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins/bin/<arch>/mod_was_ap22_http.sl

  In this example, <arch> is 32bits or 64bits depending on the web server architecture.

  Local distributed example:

  WebSpherePluginConfig profile_root/config/cells/dmgrcell/nodes/managednode/servers/webserver1/plugin-cfg.xml

• (Windows) Configure entries in the httpd.conf file.

  Use the following examples of the LoadModule and the WebSpherePluginConfig directives as models for configuring the file:

  LoadModule was_ap22_module drive:\IBM\WebSphere\Plugins\bin\<arch>\mod_was_ap22_http.dll

  In this example, <arch> is 32bits or 64bits depending on the web server architecture.

  Local distributed example:

  WebSpherePluginConfig profile_root\config\cells\dmgrcell\nodes\managednode\servers\webserver1\plugin-cfg.xml

The Apache 2.2 Web Server is re-configured.

What to do next

The native GSKIT SSL encryption library is used.

(Dist) Install the web server plug-ins installs the GSKIT SSL encryption library at the required level if it is not installed. If we manually copy the plug-in to a new machine, we might not have the required GSKIT libraries for encrypting back-end connections.

After configuring a web server, we can install applications on it. See the Applications section of the information center for more information.

Tip: To unconfigure a web server, reverse the manual steps and remove what was manually added in this procedure.

Configure IBM HTTP Server v9.0