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The "RunningMultipleApacheInstances" page has been changed by FernanAguero. The comment on this change is: wrote the first (FreeBSD) part of the recipe. need help with the ubuntu section. http://wiki.apache.org/httpd/RunningMultipleApacheInstances?action=diff&rev1=1&rev2=2 -------------------------------------------------- = Running Multiple Apache Instances = - This is a [[RecipeRequests]]. It is currently just an outline of what I think I'd want to be here. Please expand, add, suggest, and help complete this Recipe!. + This is a [[RecipeRequests]]. It currently contains what I think I'd want to be here. The FreeBSD section is essentially done, although I'd appreaciate review by a peer, suggestions, etc. + + The Ubuntu section is a work in progress, because I've never done this in Ubuntu, and I'm not really sure if it will be as easy to do as in FreeBSD. Please expand, add, suggest, and help complete this Recipe!. -- fernan - == The Goal. Or: why do we need to run multiple apache instances in one host? == + == The Goal == - Briefly explain a couple of setups where running multiple apache instances is required and/or necessary. + === Or: why do we need to run multiple apache instances in one host? === + + Although you can certainly have a single apache installation, running a single apache instance, and still have different virtual hosts that can be accessed separately, sometimes following this easy path can lead you to a heavy and bloated apache instance. + + If your virtual hosts have different requirements (e.g. modperl for one virtual host, modpython for another, and maybe modphp for a third virtual host), then your apache instance is almost surely a RAM eater. Remember that apache will instantly spawn new child processes of the same instance as needed ... if your perl web app is being frequently accessed, why spawn several instances of an httpd process that is also loaded with modpython, modphp and an assortment of other modules that, at least from the standpoint of the perl web app, are useless? + + The answer to this, is simple: have separate lighter configurations for your modperl, modpython and modphp apps, listening on different ports (e.g. 81, 82, 83), and have a reverse proxy apache instance with virtual hosts configured to pass requests to the corresponding apache instances. + + In this recipe, I'll briefly explain how to do something along these lines: - Example: running different web applications listening in different ports, and using a reverse proxy that forwards incoming requests (e.g. company1.com, company2.com, service1.com, etc.) to the corresponding apache instances. + Example: running different web applications listening in different ports, and using a reverse proxy that forwards incoming requests (e.g. blog.company.com, svn.company.com, www.company.com) to the corresponding apache instances. == HowTo == - How do we configure apache so that we're able to start/stop/restart individual instances? Lots of guides online start by asking you to compile apache once for each instance, and installing to different local prefixes. This is a waste of time, and disk space. + How do we configure apache so that we're able to start/stop/restart individual instances? - In FreeBSD, a clever port maintainer set up a number of rc scripts that allow you to do just this, painlessly. So we'll proceed to explain the FreeBSD approach firts, and then we'll try to figure out how to do something similar in Linux (Ubuntu). + Because apache allows you to load modules dynamically, most of the time, a single installation of apache can serve the needs of multiple instances, and every instance may be configured to run different sets of modules. As an example, you can run a very lightweight proxy module, a modperl instance to run your perl web applications, a modpython instance with DAV to run subversion, a separate instance running PHP, etc, all from a single local installation of apache. Unless you have a requirement for a custom built apache instance (e.g. tweaking compile options differently for different instances), you don't really need to compile and install apache to different places (prefixes), as many online guides suggest. + + In FreeBSD, a clever port maintainer had set up a number of rc scripts that simplify the task of launching all configured instances after booting the system. So if you're using FreeBSD as your server OS, then you're lucky, as the configuration is painless. + + In this recipe, therefore, I'll proceed to explain the FreeBSD approach first, and then I'll try to figure out how to do something similar in Linux (Ubuntu). === The FreeBSD approach === + '''1. Install the www/apache22 port''' - === Doing it in Ubuntu? === + As root, do: + {{{ + cd /usr/ports/www/apache22 + # configure the port: select compile options and modules + make config + # now make and install + make clean && make install clean + }}} + This will fetch the sources for apache (currently 2.2.17), extract them, and run configure, make and finally install apache-22 on your system. As mentioned before, note that only one local installation is required to run multiple instances of apache. Also note that if you configure the port (''make config'') to enable mod_perl, mod_python (or any other dynamically loaded module that does not come with the standard apache distribution), then the FreeBSD ports system will 'Do The Right Thing(TM)' and will fetch, extract, configure, make and install the code for the corresponding modules. Easy, huh? + + Note also, that there are other alternative apache ports in FreeBSD that will install different flavours of apache: + + * www/apache22-event-mpm + * www/apache22-peruser-mpm + * www/apache22-worker-mpm + * etc. + + Choose the port that best fits your needs, and proceed to the next step. + + '''2. Create your apache configurations''' + + In FreeBSD, the configuration files for the recently installed port live in '/usr/local/etc/apache22'. There you will find a sample 'httpd.conf' file. This file may include directives found in other conf files located in a directory called 'extra', at the same location. Please read them, and familiarize yourself with their contents. If you've configured apache before, you'll find your way around easily. + + Now, let's create a number of separate apache configurations. Essentially this means creating different httpd.conf files, for example: + + {{{ + cp httpd.conf httpd-proxy.conf + cp httpd.conf httpd-perl.conf + cp httpd.conf httpd-python.conf + cp httpd.conf httpd-php.conf + ... + }}} + + Now edit these files, and tweak the different configurations according to your needs, e.g. + + {{{ + # httpd-proxy.conf + Listen 80 + ErrorLog /var/log/httpd-proxy-error.log + LoadModule proxy_module libexec/apache22/mod_proxy.so + LoadModule proxy_http_module libexec/apache22/mod_proxy_http.so + + # httpd-perl.conf + Listen 81 + ErrorLog /var/log/httpd-perl-error.log + LoadModule perl_module libexec/apache22/mod_perl.so + + # httpd-python.conf + Listen 82 + ErrorLog /var/log/httpd-python-error.log + LoadModule python_module libexec/apache22/mod_python.so + + # httpd-php.conf + Listen 83 + ErrorLog /var/log/httpd-php-error.log + LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache22/libphp5.so + }}} + + Now, we also need to configure the virtual hosts in the proxy instance, so that whenever a request comes for the subversion DAV server, it is passed onto your 'python-dav' apache, whereas requests for your wordpress blog are passed to your 'php' apache instance. Let's edit 'httpd-proxy.conf' again: + + {{{ + # httpd-proxy.conf + NameVirtualHost *:80 + <VirtualHost *:80> + DocumentRoot /www/wordpress + ServerName blog.company.com + ProxyPass / http://localhost:83/ + ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:83/ + [... additional directives here ... ] + </VirtualHost> + <VirtualHost *:80> + DocumentRoot /www/svn + ServerName svn.company.com + ProxyPass / http://localhost:82/ + ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:82/ + [... additional directives here ... ] + </VirtualHost> + # you get the idea ... + }}} + + So we're finished with the configuration, and now we need to launch all the apache instances, and test that everything is working as expected. Of course you can do this using 'apachectl', e.g. + + {{{ + /usr/local/sbin/apachectl -f /usr/local/etc/apache22/proxy-httpd.conf configtest + /usr/local/sbin/apachectl -f /usr/local/etc/apache22/proxy-httpd.conf start + /usr/local/sbin/apachectl -f /usr/local/etc/apache22/perl-httpd.conf configtest + /usr/local/sbin/apachectl -f /usr/local/etc/apache22/perl-httpd.conf start + # and so on ... + }}} + + But for production operation, it is safer to rely on the FreeBSD rc scripts. These will make sure that the instances are launched at boot time. Our last stop in this FreeBSD recipe, is therefore: + + + '''3. Edit /etc/rc.conf''' + + The '/etc/rc.conf' in FreeBSD is the master file containing the system configuration information. This file is read after booting the kernel, and serves to launch services, daemons, set up network interfaces, etc. For our recipe we will be enabling the apache server, listing the available instances (''profiles''), their configuration files, and telling FreeBSD which of these need to be run (''enabled'') after booting the system. + + {{{ + # /etc/rc.conf + apache22_enable="YES" + apache22_profiles="proxy perl python php" + + # the apache proxy instance + apache22_configfile="/usr/local/etc/apache22/httpd-proxy.conf" + apache22_proxy_enable="YES" + + # the apache proxy instance + apache22_configfile="/usr/local/etc/apache22/httpd-perl.conf" + apache22_perl_enable="YES" + + # the apache python instance + apache22_configfile="/usr/local/etc/apache22/httpd-python.conf" + apache22_python_enable="YES" + + # the apache php instance + apache22_configfile="/usr/local/etc/apache22/httpd-php.conf" + apache22_php_enable="YES" + }}} + + When these ''profiles'' are configured in /etc/rc.conf, and ''enabled'', they will be started after successfully booting the system. If you want to declare a profile but you only want to start the corresponding apache instance manually, you can just edit '/etc/rc.conf' and say, e.g. : + + {{{ + # the apache php instance + apache22_configfile="/usr/local/etc/apache22/httpd-php.conf" + apache22_php_enable="NO" + }}} + + Later, you can start/stop any apache instance manually using just the profile name (proxy, perl, python, php), like this: + + {{{ + /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache22 start php + /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache22 stop perl + ... + }}} + + + === Doing it in Ubuntu === + + And maybe it's similar also in Debian?. Apologies for my ignorance. + + '''1. Install the apache2 package''' + + In Ubuntu, you need to install not only the apache2 package, but also, the corresponding libapache2-* packages for the modules you need in your apache instances. + + {{{ + sudo apt-get install apache2 + sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-perl2 + sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-python + sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-php5 + ... + }}} + + '''2. Create your apache configurations''' + + In Ubuntu, the configuration files for your recently installed apache are under '/etc/apache2'. + [writing in progress ...] + + + '''3. Configure the system to launch the apache instances after boot''' + + I'm not sure this will be similar (and painless) as in the case of FreeBSD (see section on rc.conf above). The apache rc scripts installed with the apache port in FreeBSD are aware of the possibility of different profiles. The ubuntu init scripts (e.g. /etc/init.d/apache2) have hardcoded paths for configuration files and for a single configuration directory. These will have to be patched ... unless I'm missing something obvious? + --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: docs-unsubscr...@httpd.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: docs-h...@httpd.apache.org
