How to Install Apache2 webserver with PHP,CGI and Perl Support in Ubuntu Server
Posted by admin on October 6th, 2008 
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Install Apache2 in Ubuntu
sudo aptitude install apache2
This will complete the installation.
After installation Type the server’s IP address (or alias if you added the server to your /etc/hosts file) in your browser’s address bar or, if you are browsing on the server itself, type 127.0.0.1 or localhost. If an error occurs, then you will have to edit the apache2.conf file to ensure that Apache can fully resolve the server’s name.If you have any problem then you have to edit the apache2 configuration file using the following command
sudo nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
Add the following line somewhere
ServerName localhost
or
ServerName yourserverip
Save and exit the file
Now you need to restart Apache server using the following command.
sudo apache2ctl restart
Change default document root in Apache2
The main configuration file located at /etc/apache2/apche2.conf.If you want to change the default document root you need to edit the /etc/apache2/sites-available/default file and look for this line “DocumentRoot /var/www/” here you can change where ever you want to change.For example if you want to change /home/www the above line looks like this “DocumentRoot /home/www/”.
Save and exit the file
Now you need to restart Apache server using the following command.
sudo apache2ctl restart
Enable PHP support for apache2 webserver
If you want to enable php5 or php4 support to your apache webserver use the following commands to install require packages
For PHP5
sudo aptitiude install php5 libapache2-mod-php5
For PHP4
sudo aptitiude install php4 libapache2-mod-php4
You also make sure the php5 and php4 modules are enabled using the following commands
sudo a2enmod php5
sudo a2enmod php4
After installing php support you need to restart apache webserver using the following command
sudo apache2ctl restart
Test your PHP Support foe apache webserver
To check the status of your PHP installation
sudo nano /var/www/testphp.php
and insert the following line
<?php phpinfo(); ?>
Save and exit the file
Now open web browser at http://yourserveripaddress/testphp.php and check.
Enable CGI and perl support for apache2 server
You need to install the following package
sudo aptitude install libapache2-mod-perl2
Configure a cgi-bin directory
You need to create a cgi-bin directory using the following command
sudo mkdir /home/www/cgi-bin
Configuring Apache to allow CGI program execution is pretty easy. Create a directory to be used for CGI programs and add the following to the site configuration file (again between the <VirtualHost> tags).
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /home/www/cgi-bin/<Directory /home/www/cgi-bin/>
Options ExecCGI
AddHandler cgi-script cgi pl
</Directory>
The first line creates an alias that points to the directory in which CGI scripts are stored. The final line tells Apache that only files that end with the *.cgi and *.pl extensions should be considered CGI programs and executed.
Test your Perl Program
cd /home/www/cgi-bin
sudo nano perltest.pl
Copy and paste the following section save and exit the file.
###Start####!/usr/bin/perl -w
print "Content-type: text/html\r\n\r\n";
print "Hello there!<br />\nJust testing .<br />\n";for ($i=0; $i<10; $i++)
{
print $i."<br />";
}###End###
make sure you change permissions on it
sudo chmod a+x perltest.pl
Now open your web browser open http://yourserverip/cgi-bin/perltest.pl.It should be working.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
<blockquote cite=”again between the tags”>
Am I miss something here?
October 19th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Word of an adivce: Don’t edit apache.conf. Add your custom configuration in /etc/apache2/conf.d/ directory. This will help you maintain your configuration (you can split it into logical files) and make upgrades to newer Ubuntu version smoother. Also, web site specific configuration is done in /etc/apache2/sites-available - create your own site and enable it. As with custom configuration, custom websites will make upgrades to newer Ubuntu version painless.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
sudo aptitude install libapache2-mod-perl is not functionaly. but i tested : sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-perl & its runing now. maybe is there anything wrong of the site.
January 6th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Thanks, this was helpful.