NethServer tries to remain compliant with the upstream configuration for httpd.

In Apache 2.4 every global option is inherit by all virtual hosts, except for the Rewrite directives.

In a clean installation the only defined virtual host is the one on port 443. When nethserver-httpd-virtualhosts is installed, the package adds a new default virtual host. This virtual host includes the /etc/httpd/conf.d/default-virtualhost.inc file to mimic the upstream behavior.

See also "Certificate management" and "Virtualhosts" section for further information.

Available templates under /etc/e-smith/templates/ directory:

• etc/httpd/conf.d/default-virtualhost.inc: common configuration included inside default virtual host on port 80
• etc/httpd/conf.d/nethserver.conf: default httpd configuration, includes conf.d/default-virtualhost.inc. Normally a package shouldn't add a fragment to it.
• etc/httpd/conf.d/welcome.conf: configures the "Welcome" page if there is no default index page for the root URL
• httpd/vhost: everything inside will be included in default-virtualhost.inc. DO NOT USE, it's here only for backward compatibility

Every package which needs to change the Apache configuration:

• should add a static (or template-generated) file inside /etc/httpd/conf.d/ directory
• must include all Rewrite options inside a fragment for default-virtualhost.inc

Package named nethserver-mywebapp which requires a rewrite rule from http to https. The web application must be accessible under http://<server_address>/mywebapp.

Static file /etc/httpd/conf.d/mywebapp.conf:

Alias /mywebapp /usr/share/mywebapp
<Directory "/usr/share/mywebapp">
    AllowOverride None
    Options None
    Require all granted
</Directory>

Rewrite rule fragment /etc/e-smith/templates/etc/httpd/conf.d/default-virtualhost.inc/30mywebapp:

#
# 30mywebapp
#

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^/mywebapp(/.*)?$ https://%\{SERVER_NAME\}/mywebapp$1 [L,R=301]

Inside the createlinks file, the configuration should be applied during the update event:

my $event = "nethserver-mywebapp-update";
event_templates($event,
                   '/etc/httpd/conf.d/default-virtualhost.inc',
);

event_services($event,
                   'httpd' => 'reload',
);

httpd=service
   SSLCipherSuite=DEFAULT:!EXP:!SSLv2:!DES:!IDEA:!SEED:+3DES
   TCPPorts=80,443
   access=green,red
   status=enabled

A new vhost database is defined by this module. It contains records of type vhost, similar to:

vh1=vhost
    Access=private
    Description=description_text
    ForceSslStatus=enabled
    FtpPassword=ftp_password_value
    FtpStatus=enabled
    PasswordStatus=enabled
    PasswordValue=http_password_value
    ServerNames=www.nethserver.org,www.example.com
    SslCertificate=/etc/pki/tls/certs/NSRV.crt
    status=enabled
    PhpRhVersion=default
    PhpCustomSettings=disabled
    AllowUrlfOpen=enabled
    MemoryLimit=128
    UploadMaxFilesize=4
    PostMaxSize=8
    MaxExecutionTime=0
    MaxFileUploads=20

The database contains a special default record which represents the default virtual host:

default=vhost
  Description=Default virtual host
  FtpPassword=
  FtpStatus=enabled

This virtual host is always enabled and can't be deleted. If FTP access is enabled, the user will be chrooted inside /var/www/html directory.

With the new cockpit server-manager the PHP version can be modified inside the virtualhost panel. It installs a pool of PHP-FPM, this new php version is only relevant to the current apache virtualhost. The prop PhpRhVersion is used to set the PHP version (default is the PHP 5.4,

php71, php72).

The documentation page of the project are: - https://www.softwarecollections.org/en/scls/rhscl/rh-php71/ - https://www.softwarecollections.org/en/scls/rhscl/rh-php72/

If the prop PhpCustomSettings is set to disabled the PHP setting values are inherited from the default values of PHP (from esmith configuration database), if enabled each vhost gets its own PHP values from its vhost props.

signal-event nethserver-httpd-update
signal-event nethserver-httpd-save

Shared folders from NethServer 6 with property HttpStatus set to enabled can be migrated to virtual hosts using the vhost-migrate-ibay event:

signal-event vhost-migrate-ibay <ibay-name>

If the original ibay was availble to any virtual hosts (HttpVirtualHost = __ANY__), the ibay will be migrated inside the default virtual host. Otherwise a new virtual host record will be created.

The migration process is also available from the web interface.

The Modify action can be extended to display additional tabs, by adding a controller and the respective template under ModifyPlugin/ directories.

See the Samba User plugin on NethServer 6.x as an example

If there is no index page for the root URL, a default welcome page is shown accessing the HTTP and HTTPS ports of the server. If Cockpit UI is installed, the welcome page displays a customizable app launcher; users can choose which apps to show in the launcher by accessing Cockpit Applications page and clicking the Add to home page command in the kebab menu of any app.

It is possible to display an alternative welcome page that replaces the app launcher:

• create a subdirectory inside /usr/share/httpd/noindex/, e.g. mywebsite

• put a custom index page (e.g. index.html) inside /usr/share/httpd/noindex/mywebsite/

• create a subdirectory res inside /usr/share/httpd/noindex/mywebsite/

• put all the assets used by your page (images, scripts, ...) inside /usr/share/httpd/noindex/mywebsite/res/

• the assets can be accessed from the index page using the prefix /res_mywebsite/, e.g. <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/res_mywebsite/style.css">

• make sure the primary page is called index.html

• execute the following commands:

  config setprop httpd HomePage mywebsite
  signal-event nethserver-httpd-update
  

• your custom welcome page is now accessible the the HTTP and HTTPS ports

If you want to switch back to the default app launcher page execute:

config setprop httpd HomePage nethserver
signal-event nethserver-httpd-update