Linux Apache SSL PHP/FI frontpage mini-HOWTO
Marcus Faure, marcus@faure.de
v1.1, July 1998
This document is about building a multipurpose webserver that will
support dynamic web content via the PHP/FI scripting language, secure
transmission of data based on Netscape's SSL, secure execution of
CGI's and M$ Frontpage Server Extensions
______________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Description of the components
1.2 Working configurations
1.3 History
2. Component installation
2.1 Preparations
2.2 Adding PHP
2.3 Adding SSL
2.4 Adding frontpage
3. Putting it all together
3.1 Apache modules to try
3.2 Giving CGI's more security
3.3 Compiling and installing the server daemon
3.4 Adding frontpage support to a web
3.5 Starting the daemon
3.6 Some considerations left
3.7 Known bugs
3.8 The final word
______________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
Before you start reading: I am not a native speaker, so there are
probably spelling/grammatical errors in this document. Feel encouraged
to inform me of mistakes.
1.1. Description of the components
The webserver you hopefully will get after having read this howto is
composed of several parts, the original apache sources with some
(well, many) patches and some external executables. I recommend using
the software versions I tried, they will probably compile without
greater problems and result in a fairly stable daemon. If you are
courageous, you can try to compile all the latest-stuff-with-tons-of-
new-features, but don't blame me if something fails ;-). However, you
may report other working configurations to be included in future
versions of this document. All of the steps were tested on a linux
2.0.35 box, so the howto is somewhat linux-specific, but you should be
able to use it for other unixes as well.
You do not necesserily have to compile in all components. I tried to
structure this howto so that you can skip the parts you are not
interested in.
The document is neither a user manual to Apache, SSL, PHP/FI nor
frontpage. Its prime intention is to save webservice providers some
headaches when installing their server and to do my little
contribution to the linux community.
PHP is a scripting language that supports dynamic HTML pages. It is a
bit like Apache's SSI, but by far more complex and has database
modules for many popular dbs. The GD libraries are needed by PHP.
SSL is an implementation of Netscape's Secure Socket Layer that allow
secure connections over insecure networks, e.g. to transmit credit
card numbers to web based forms.
frontpage is a wysiwyg web authoring tool that makes use of some
server-specific extensions called webbots. Some people think frontpage
is cool because you can create feedback forms and discussion webs
without having to know a bit about html or cgi. It even protects the
designer from uploading his/her site via ftp by using a builtin
publisher. If you wish to support frontpage but do not like to setup a
windows server, the apache server extensions are your choice.
1.2. Working configurations
Though this document has been downloaded some 100 times since I
published it, I received only little feedback. In particular, noone
told me of other working combinations. Combinations that work for me
are:
· Linux 2.0.31, Apache 1.2.4, PHP 2.0.0, SSL 0.8.0, fp 98 3.0.3 (*)
· Linux 2.0.33, Apache 1.2.5, PHP 2.0.1, SSL 0.8.0, fp 98 3.0.3 (*)
· Linux 2.0.35, Apache 1.2.6, PHP 3, SSL 0.8.0, fp 98 3.0.4
(*) version 3.0.3 is ``not recommended''
1.3. History
v0.0/Apr 98: Preview version
v1.0/Jun 98: Now using Apache 1.2.6, updated fp section, minor
corrections
v1.1/Jul 98: Sgmlized and restructered version
You can find the latest version of this document at
<http://www.faure.de>
2. Component installation
2.1. Preparations
You will need:
· Apache 1.2.6 <http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1_2_6.tar.gz>
· PHP/FI Extensions
<http://php.iquest.net/files/download.phtml?/files/php-2.01.tar.gz>
· GD Library <http://siva.cshl.org/gd/gd.html>
· SSL 0.8.0 <ftp://ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/SSL/SSLeay-0.8.0.tar.gz>
· SSL patch for Apache 1.2.6
<ftp://ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/SSL/apache_1.2.6+ssl_1.17.tar.gz>
· frontpage 98 server extensions and install script
<http://www.rtr.com/fpsupport/download.htm>
Get the sources you want. Untar apche, php, gd and ssl to /usr/src.
Untar the SSL patch to /usr/src/apache_1.2.6.
2.2. Adding PHP
cd to /usr/src/gd1.2 and type make. This will build the GD library
libgd.a, that should be copied to /usr/lib. Now cd to php-2.0.1 and
run ./install.
The relevant questions are:
Would you like to compile PHP/FI as an Apache module? [yN] y
Are you compiling for an Apache 1.1 or later server? [Yn] y
Are you using Apache-Stronghold? [yN] y
Does your Apache server support ELF dynamic loading? [yN] y
Apache include directory (which has httpd.h)? [/usr/local/include/apache] /usr/src/apache_1.2.6/src
Would you like to build an ELF shared library? [yN] y
Additional directories to search for .h files []: /usr/src/gd1.2
Would you like the bundled regex library? [yN] n
Like the frontpage extensions, phtml includes a security problem
because it is run under the uid of the webserver. Be sure to turn on
safe mode in src/php.h and restrict the search path to a save value.
There are some other options in php.h you may want to edit. If you are
very concerned about security, compile php as a cgi. However, this
will be a performance loss and not as smart as the module version.
Type make to build all files. When the compilation is done, copy
mod_php.* and libphp.a to /usr/src/apache_1.2.6/src Add a line
Module php_module mod_php.o
to the end of /usr/src/apache_1.2.6/src/Configuration, add
-lphp -lm -lgdbm -lgd
to the EXTRA_LIBS in the same file,
application/x-httpd-php phtml
to Apache's mime.types and
AddType application/x-httpd-php .phtml
to Apache's srm.conf.
You may also want to add index.phtml to DirectoryIndex in that file so
that a file index.phtml is automatically loaded when its directory is
requested.
2.3. Adding SSL
cd /usr/src/SSL-0.8.0; ./Configure linux-elf; make; make rehash This
will create libraries needed by apache. You may issue make test to
verify the compilation. You have to apply a patch to apache. It is
important that you apply it before the frontpage patch, otherwise
frontpage will not work. cd to /usr/src/apache_1.2.6/src and issue
patch < /usr/src/apache_1.2.6/SSLpatch. Set
SSL_BASE=/usr/src/SSLeay-0.8.0 in Configuration. Make sure that Module
proxy_module is disabled otherwise Apache won't compile. If you are in
need of a proxy, go for Squid http://squid.nlanr.net/
Now make certificate to generate SSLconf/conf/httpsd.pem.
2.4. Adding frontpage
Rename the fp30.linux.tar.Z file to fp30.linux.tar.gz, otherwise the
install script will not find it. Run ./fp_install to copy the
extension files to /usr/local/frontpage. zcat can usually be invoked
as /usr/bin/zcat.
You now have to apply the FP patch. cd to /usr/src/apache_1.2.6/src
and type patch < /usr/src/frontpage/version3.0/apache-fp/fp-patch-
apache_1.2.5 This will create the mod_frontpage.* files and do some
modifications to Configuration etc. The 1.2.5 patch will work with
both apache 1.2.5 and 1.2.6. Skip the part about installing webs, you
can do that later
3. Putting it all together
3.1. Apache modules to try
The modules I use besides SSL, PHP and frontpage are:
Module env_module mod_env.o
Module config_log_module mod_log_config.o
Module mime_module mod_mime.o
Module negotiation_module mod_negotiation.o
Module dir_module mod_dir.o
Module cgi_module mod_cgi.o
Module asis_module mod_asis.o
Module imap_module mod_imap.o
Module action_module mod_actions.o
Module alias_module mod_alias.o
Module rewrite_module mod_rewrite.o
Module access_module mod_access.o
Module auth_module mod_auth.o
Module anon_auth_module mod_auth_anon.o
Module digest_module mod_digest.o
Module expires_module mod_expires.o
Module headers_module mod_headers.o
Module browser_module mod_browser.o
3.2. Giving CGI's more security
If you are an ISP (you probably are when you read this) you will want
to improve security. The suexec utility allows you to do so; it will
execute cgi's under the UID of the webowner instead of executing it
under the webservers UID. Go to /usr/src/apache_1.2.6/support and
make suexec. chmod 4711 suxec and copy it to the location specified
in ../src/httpd.h which is /usr/local/etc/httpd/sbin/suexec by
default. If the path seems a little cryptic to you - it did to me -
edit httpd.h and set the path to a more comfortable value.
3.3. Compiling and installing the server daemon
Enter /usr/src/apache_1.2.6/src and edit Configuration to set all the
Modules you want to include in your Apache daemon. When done, run
./Configure and make. This is the last (and most complicated)
compilation step, so cross your fingers. If it succeeds, cp httpsd to
/usr/sbin. The daemon is somewhat big, consider this when assembling
your webserver. Create the directory /var/httpd with subdirectories
cgi-bin, conf, htdocs, icons, virt1, virt2 and logs. In
/usr/src/apache_1.2.6/conf edit access.conf-dist, mime.types and
srm.conf-dist to suit your needs and copy them to
var/httpd/conf/access.conf, srm.conf and mime.types. Copy the
httpsd.pem you created with make certificate to /var/httpd/conf. Use
the following httpd.conf:
ServerType standalone
Port 80
Listen 80
Listen 443
User wwwrun
Group wwwrun
ServerAdmin webmaster@yourhost.com
ServerRoot /var/httpd
ErrorLog logs/error_log
TransferLog logs/access_log
PidFile logs/httpd.pid
ServerName www.yourhost.com
MinSpareServers 3
MaxSpareServers 20
StartServers 3
SSLCACertificatePath /var/httpd/conf
SSLCACertificateFile /var/httpd/conf/httpsd.pem
SSLCertificateFile /var/httpd/conf/httpsd.pem
SSLLogFile /var/httpd/logs/ssl.log
<VirtualHost www.virt1.com>
SSLDisable
ServerAdmin webmaster@virt1.com
DocumentRoot /var/httpd/virt1
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /var/httpd/virt1/cgi-bin/
ServerName www.virt1.com
ErrorLog logs/virt1-error.log
TransferLog logs/virt1-access.log
User virt1admin
Group users
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost www.virt1.com:443>
ServerAdmin webmaster@virt1.com
DocumentRoot /var/httpd/virt1
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /var/httpd/virt1/cgi-bin/
ServerName www.virt1.com
ErrorLog logs/virt1-ssl-error.log
TransferLog logs/virt1-ssl-access.log
User virt1admin
Group users
SSLCACertificatePath /var/httpd/conf
SSLCACertificateFile /var/httpd/conf/httpsd.pem
SSLCertificateFile /var/httpd/conf/httpsd.pem
SSLLogFile /var/httpd/logs/virt1-ssl.log
SSLVerifyClient 0
SSLFakeBasicAuth
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost www.virt2.com>
SSLDisable
ServerAdmin webmaster@virt2.com
DocumentRoot /var/httpd/virt2
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /var/httpd/virt2/cgi-bin/
ServerName www.virt2.com
ErrorLog logs/virt2-error.log
TransferLog logs/virt2-access.log
</VirtualHost>
Depending on the modules compiled in, not all directives may be
available. You can retrieve a list of available directives with
httpsd -h.
3.4. Adding frontpage support to a web
Enter /usr/local/frontpage/version3.0/bin and load ./fpsrvadm. Choose
install and apache-fp. The next questions should be answered the
following way:
Enter server config filename: /var/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
Enter host name for multi-hosting []: www.virt2.com
Starting install, port: www.virt2.com:80, web: ""
Enter user's name []: virt2admin
Enter user's password:
Confirm password:
Creating root web
Recalculate links for root web
Install completed.
The user name must be the unix login of the webowner. The password
does not necessarily have to match the system password. You have to
manually add sendmailcommand:/usr/sbin/sendmail %r to
/usr/local/frontpage/www.virt2.com:80.conf, otherwise your users will
not be able to send web-generated eMails. kill -HUP your httpsd to
make fp reread its config. You can now access www.virt2.com with your
frontpage client.
Under some circumstances fpsrvadm complaints that a root web has to be
installed first. This is pretty useless, but you should do so to
silence fpsrvadm.
3.5. Starting the daemon
Start Apache with httpsd -f /var/httpd/conf/httpd.conf. You can now
access www.virt1.com both through http and https which is pretty cool.
Of course you have to pay for a real certificate if you want to offer
webwide SSL or users might laugh at you.
Copy one of the demo files from the php examples directory to virt1 to
test phtml.
3.6. Some considerations left
Do not use frontpage 97 extensions. They do not work, at least under
Linux. When installing specific versions of the c++ libraries, they
appear to work but your logs will soon fill with premature end of
script headers and your mailbox will fill with complaints. Do not use
frontpage 98 extensions before version 3.0.2.1330. Do not be confused,
version numbers are somewhat inheterogenous. When telnetting to port
80, typing "get / http/1.0" and hitting return twice, you get a
version number 3.0.4 for frontpage.
You can find out the more specific version number by executing
/usr/local/frontpage/currentversion/exes/_vti_bin/shtml.exe -version.
Older versions have a nasty bug that requires httpd.conf to be
writable by the gid of the webserver. This should make you scream if
you are at all concerned about security. Versions since 3.0.2.1330
are more usable.
3.7. Known bugs
When touching Recalculate Links in the frontpage client, the server
starts a process that consumes 99% cpu cycles and some 10 mb of
memory. But even for medium-sized webs and fast machines, the client
sometimes recieves a timeout message, though the calculation will be
finished correctly. Inform frontpage users to be patient and not to
hit Recalculate Links several times. Inform yourself to equip the
server with at least 64MB.
Please note that at the time of writing both SSL and frontpage work,
but not at the same time, that means you can neither publish your web
using ssl nor make use of the webbots through https. You can publish
your web on port 80 and access it encrypted on port 443, but your
counters etc. will be broken. I consider this a bug. This problem
shall be fixed in SSL 0.9.0.
3.8. The final word
For those who think the title of this howto is nearly as long as the
document: Did you ever listened to Meat Loaf?
O.K. readers, you're done for today. Feel free to send me your
feedback, eternal gratitude, flowers, ecash, cars, oil sources etc.
