Apache virtual hosts: wordpress and subversion

A setup I made for my own needs: how to run wordpress and subversion server as virtual hosts on one Apache instance.

1. Install and configure Apache

If not included by default, you need to install and set the Apache HTTP server to run on boot.

# Install
yum install httpd
# Run on start
chkconfig httpd on
# Start/Restart the daemon
service httpd restart

# Install

yum install httpd

# Run on start

chkconfig httpd on

# Start/Restart the daemon

service httpd restart

Note: you should also take care of the configured runlevel. You can specify the runlevel for running httpd on boot by using chkconfig -level <runlevels> httpd on. To see if it’s fine, run chkconfig | grep httpd

Open a browser pointing to the IP (or domain if already configured, ‘localhost’ if working locally) of your web server. An example apache web page should appear.

2. Install and configure WordPress

2.1. Install and configure MySQL. (If you already have MySQL installed, skip this step)

#install mysql
#if you don't have php, install it as well, it will be needed
yum install mysql-server php php-mysql

#start the mysql daemon, set it to run on boot
chkconfig mysqld on
#or use specific levels, example: chkconfig --level 2345 mysqldon
service mysqld restart

#login as root
mysql -u root
#delete all other users
DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE NOT (host="localhost" AND user ="root");
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
#change root password (recommended for security)
#after this, you need to login with mysql -p -u root
SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('new_password_here');
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
#if you want, change the root user username
#UPDATE mysql.user SET user="root_user_name" WHERE user="root";
#FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
#disallow anonymous access to the database
DELETE from mysql.user where user='';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
#all done
exit

#install mysql

#if you don't have php, install it as well, it will be needed

yum install mysql-server php php-mysql

#start the mysql daemon, set it to run on boot

chkconfig mysqld on

#or use specific levels, example: chkconfig --level 2345 mysqldon

service mysqld restart

#login as root

mysql -u root

#delete all other users

DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE NOT (host="localhost" AND user ="root");

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

#change root password (recommended for security)

#after this, you need to login with mysql -p -u root

SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('new_password_here');

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

#if you want, change the root user username

#UPDATE mysql.user SET user="root_user_name" WHERE user="root";

#FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

#disallow anonymous access to the database

DELETE from mysql.user where user='';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

#all done

exit

2.2 Create a wordpress database and user

#login to the mysql server
mysql -p -u root
#create the database (name it wordpress for example)
CREATE DATABASE wordpress;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
#add a new user(name it wpuser for example), and assign it with full access to the new database
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO 'wpuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'enter_password_here';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
#all done
exit

#login to the mysql server

mysql -p -u root

#create the database (name it wordpress for example)

CREATE DATABASE wordpress;

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

#add a new user(name it wpuser for example), and assign it with full access to the new database

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO 'wpuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'enter_password_here';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

#all done

exit

2.3. Setup wordpress

#Install wget and unzip if you don't have them
yum install wget unzip
#go to the parent directory where wordpress will be installed
#the default apache html directory is in /var/www/html, so /var/www/wordpress will be used here
cd /var/www
wget http://wordpress.org/latest.zip
unzip latest.zip
rm latest.zip
cd wordpress
# some directories that wordpress need to be able to write to
mkdir wp-content/uploads wp-content/cache
chown apache:apache wp-content/uploads wp-content/cache

#Install wget and unzip if you don't have them

yum install wget unzip

#go to the parent directory where wordpress will be installed

#the default apache html directory is in /var/www/html, so /var/www/wordpress will be used here

cd /var/www

wget http://wordpress.org/latest.zip

unzip latest.zip

rm latest.zip

cd wordpress

# some directories that wordpress need to be able to write to

mkdir wp-content/uploads wp-content/cache

chown apache:apache wp-content/uploads wp-content/cache

Now, the configuration for wordpress needs to be entered. Copy and open the wp-config:

cp wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php
#edit with vi or gedit if present
vi wp-config.php

cp wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php

#edit with vi or gedit if present

vi wp-config.php

Edit the following sections with the required data:

DB_NAME – the name of the created wordpress database (here is wordpress)
DB_USER – the username who has privileges for the database (here is wpuser)
DB_PASSWORD – the password for the user that you have entered previously
DB_HOST – if on remote host, the name of the host. Here, it’s localhost
DB_CHARSET and DB_COLLATE in most cases should remain unchanged.
Secret key values – use the generator here: https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/

2.4. Configure Apache first virtual host for wordpress

Edit the apache configuration file and enable virtual hosts:

#Edit the apache configuration file
vi /etc/conf/httpd/httpd.conf

#uncomment the NameVirtualHost line:
NameVirtualHost *:80

#Save and close

#Edit the apache configuration file

vi /etc/conf/httpd/httpd.conf

#uncomment the NameVirtualHost line:

NameVirtualHost *:80

#Save and close

I prefer to add separate config file for each virtual host. These files are added in the /etc/httpd/conf.d directory and are processed by Apache in alphabetical order.

Note that the first virtual host you configure, regardless of the path applied, is the default one which Apache will use if no recognizable path is found. This means that even if you configure the virtual host to be found at specific sub-domain, say blog.something.com, every address of this sub-domain will be also legal without the subdomain. Example: blog.something.com/something can be accessed also via something.com/something.

#add a virtual host config file
cd /etc/httpd/conf.d
vi vh_blog.conf

#fill this data in the conf file
#use your domain and desired subdomain
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot /var/www/wordpress
ServerName blog.something.com 
ServerAlias blog
</VirtualHost>

#Save and closee

#Restart httpd
service httpd restart

#add a virtual host config file

cd /etc/httpd/conf.d

vi vh_blog.conf

#fill this data in the conf file

#use your domain and desired subdomain

DocumentRoot /var/www/wordpress

ServerName blog.something.com

ServerAlias blog

</VirtualHost>

#Save and closee

#Restart httpd

service httpd restart

The configuration is now complete. Open a browser and point to the online configuration: something.com/wp-admin/install.php

3. Install and configure subversion

#Install subversion binaries
yum install mod_dav_svn subversion

#check to see if the apache config is done right for subversion
vi /etc/conf/httpd/httpd.conf

#uncomment/add the following lines
LoadModule dav_svn_module     modules/mod_dav_svn.so
LoadModule authz_svn_module   modules/mod_authz_svn.so

#Save and close

#Install subversion binaries

yum install mod_dav_svn subversion

#check to see if the apache config is done right for subversion

vi /etc/conf/httpd/httpd.conf

#uncomment/add the following lines

LoadModule dav_svn_module modules/mod_dav_svn.so

LoadModule authz_svn_module modules/mod_authz_svn.so

#Save and close

In order to have private, password protected repositories, create one or several passwords first:

#For the first user:
#replace username_here with the desired username
htpasswd -cm /etc/svn-auth-conf username_here

#for any other user sharing the same repositories:
htpasswd -m /etc/svn-auth-conf another_username_here

#For the first user:

#replace username_here with the desired username

htpasswd -cm /etc/svn-auth-conf username_here

#for any other user sharing the same repositories:

htpasswd -m /etc/svn-auth-conf another_username_here

Create two different repositories parent directories. One will be used for public repos, while the other one will be for the private, password protected ones:

cd /var/www
mkdir svn
cd svn
mdkir public
mkdir private

#Create sample repositories
cd public
svnadmin create example
chown -R apache.apache example
cd ..
cd private
svnadmin create example
chown -R apache.apache example

cd /var/www

mkdir svn

cd svn

mdkir public

mkdir private

#Create sample repositories

cd public

svnadmin create example

chown -R apache.apache example

cd ..

cd private

svnadmin create example

chown -R apache.apache example

In future, in order to create new repositories, just repeat the svnadmin and chown commands.

The final step here, is to configure the second apache virtual host dedicated for subversion. To do so:

# go to the additional config directory for apache
cd /etc/httpd/conf.d
#create a new config file which will be processed after the blog config
vi vh_subversion.conf

#paste the contents:
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot /var/www/svn
ServerName svn.something.com
ServerAlias svn
<Location /private>
   DAV svn
   SVNParentPath /var/www/svn/private
      AuthType Basic
      AuthName "Subversion repos"
      AuthUserFile /etc/svn-auth-conf
      Require valid-user
</Location>
<Location /public>
   DAV svn
   SVNParentPath /var/www/svn/public
</Location>
</VirtualHost>

#Save and close

#Restart httpd
service httpd restart

# go to the additional config directory for apache

cd /etc/httpd/conf.d

#create a new config file which will be processed after the blog config

vi vh_subversion.conf

#paste the contents:

DocumentRoot /var/www/svn

ServerName svn.something.com

ServerAlias svn

DAV svn

SVNParentPath /var/www/svn/private

AuthType Basic

AuthName "Subversion repos"

AuthUserFile /etc/svn-auth-conf

Require valid-user

</Location>

DAV svn

SVNParentPath /var/www/svn/public

</Location>

</VirtualHost>

#Save and close

#Restart httpd

service httpd restart

The configuration is now all done, restart the httpd service once more and point to: svn.something.com/public/example or svn.something.com/private/example (the second one should prompt for username and password).

Useful links:
http://centoshelp.org/servers/database/installing-configuring-mysql-server/
http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress
http://blog.adlibre.org/2010/03/10/how-to-install-wordpress-on-centos-5-in-five-minutes-flat/
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/vhosts/
http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Subversion/
http://schwuk.com/articles/2004/08/28/using-subversion-with-apache-virtual-hosts/

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