System Admin Simplified

Content management systems like Drupal require specific web server directives in order to work properly. The following steps enable Apache to recognize .htaccess files containing those specific web server directives. The steps outlined here require the use HTTPS for better security on both Debian-based Linux distributions and the FreeBSD operating system . ========== 1. DEBIAN-BASED LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS 1.1. Go to the directory containing the Apache site configuration files. user@host: $ cd /etc/apache2/sites-available 1.2.  BACK UP the default HTTPS configuration file for the secure site. user@host: $ sudo cp 000-default-ssl.conf 000-default-ssl-conf.back 1.3. Open the default HTTPS configuration file. user@host: $ sudo nano 000-default-ssl.conf 1.4. Find the "DocumentRoot" section and add the "Directory" block marked "For Drupal" as follows. # BEGIN CODE <IfModule mod_ssl.c>         <VirtualHost _default_:443> # .....

Once HTTPS is enabled on the web server, remote users can be redirected to this secure protocol by automatically rewriting the URL. ========== 1. Enable the Rewrite module. user@host: $  sudo a2enmod rewrite 2. Change the current working directory to the Apache site configuration files. user@host: $ cd /etc/apache2/sites-available 3.  BACK UP the default HTTP configuration file for the non-secure site. user@host: $ sudo cp 000-default.conf 000-default-conf.back 4. Open the default HTTP configuration file. user@host: $ sudo nano 000-default.conf 5. Replace all contents in the default HTTP configuration with the following code. # BEGIN CODE RewriteEngine On # Enables directives for rewriting. RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on # Verifies that the connection is not yet in HTTPS. RewriteRule ^/?(.*) https://%{SERVER_NAME}/$1 [R,L] # Redirects to the current location but in HTTPS. # END CODE 6. Restart the web serve...

The following procedure activates HTTPS for the Apache web server in Debian-based Linux distributions. This secure protocol uses TLS/SSL certificates to encrypt the data transferred between the remote user and the web server. Sensitive information is protected from being captured by malicious actors using sniffing tools along the network route. ========== 1. Enable the SSL module. user@host: $ sudo a2enmod ssl 2. Enable the default configuration for the secure site. user@host: $ sudo a2ensite default-ssl.conf 3. Restart the web server. user@host: $ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart 4. Test the secure site by accessing localhost with a simple browser. user@host: $ lynx https://localhost ==========