This guide lists the default installation layouts for Apache HTTPD on various operating systems and distributions.
While examples in the main Apache HTTP Server documentation assume that you are using the standard file layout distributed from apache.org, many third-party distributors change the layout to conform to local policies. This can make it difficult to follow the examples and to find various important files. Using the information below, you can find where things live on your local install, and compare it to the standard Apache httpd paths.
Apache httpd 2.4 default layout (apache.org source package):
ServerRoot :: /usr/local/apache2 DocumentRoot :: /usr/local/apache2/htdocs Apache Config File :: /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf Other Config Files :: /usr/local/apache2/conf/extra/ SSL Config File :: /usr/local/apache2/conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf ErrorLog :: /usr/local/apache2/logs/error_log AccessLog :: /usr/local/apache2/logs/access_log cgi-bin :: /usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin (enabled by default, but some of the bundled scripts are 644) binaries (apachectl) :: /usr/local/apache2/bin start/stop :: /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl (start|restart|graceful|graceful-stop|stop|configtest)
Apache httpd 2.2 default layout (apache.org source package):
ServerRoot :: /usr/local/apache2 DocumentRoot :: /usr/local/apache2/htdocs Apache Config File :: /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf Other Config Files :: /usr/local/apache2/conf/extra/ SSL Config File :: /usr/local/apache2/conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf ErrorLog :: /usr/local/apache2/logs/error_log AccessLog :: /usr/local/apache2/logs/access_log cgi-bin :: /usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin (enabled by default, but the bundled scripts are 644) binaries (apachectl) :: /usr/local/apache2/bin start/stop :: /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl (start|restart|graceful|graceful-stop|stop|configtest)
Apache httpd 2.0 default layout (apache.org source package):
ServerRoot :: /usr/local/apache2 DocumentRoot :: /usr/local/apache2/htdocs Apache Config File :: /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf SSL Config :: /usr/local/apache2/conf/ssl.conf ErrorLog :: /usr/local/apache2/logs/error_log AccessLog :: /usr/local/apache2/logs/access_log cgi-bin :: /usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin (enabled by default, but the bundled scripts are 644) binaries (apachectl) :: /usr/local/apache2/bin start/stop :: /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl (start|stop|graceful|configtest)
Debian, Ubuntu (Apache httpd 2.x):
ServerRoot :: /etc/apache2
DocumentRoot :: /var/www
Apache Config Files :: /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
:: /etc/apache2/ports.conf
Default VHost Config :: /etc/apache2/sites-available/default, /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default
Module Locations :: /etc/apache2/mods-available, /etc/apache2/mods-enabled
ErrorLog :: /var/log/apache2/error.log
AccessLog :: /var/log/apache2/access.log
cgi-bin :: /usr/lib/cgi-bin
binaries (apachectl) :: /usr/sbin
start/stop :: /etc/init.d/apache2 (start|stop|restart|reload|force-reload|start-htcacheclean|stop-htcacheclean)
Notes:
- The Debian/Ubuntu layout is fully documented in /usr/share/doc/apache2/README.Debian
- Debian/Ubuntu use symlinks to configure vhosts and load modules. Configuration files are created in their respective sites-available and mods-available directories. To activate vhosts and modules, symlinks are created in the respective sites-enabled and mods-enabled directories to the config files in either sites-available and mods-available. Debian provides scripts to handle this process called 'a2ensite' and 'a2enmod' which activates vhosts and modules.
- The default vhost is defined in /etc/apache2/sites-available/default, and overrides the DocumentRoot set in the server context.
Fedora Core, CentOS, RHEL:
ServerRoot :: /etc/httpd
Primary Config Fle :: /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
Other Config Files :: /etc/httpd/conf.d
Module Locations :: /usr/lib/httpd/modules
DocumentRoot :: /var/www/html
ErrorLog :: /var/log/httpd/error_log
AccessLog :: /var/log/httpd/access_log
cgi-bin :: /var/www/cgi-bin (empty and disabled by default)
binary :: /usr/sbin/httpd
runtime directory :: /etc/httpd/run
start/stop :: /sbin/service httpd {start|stop|restart|condrestart|reload|status|fullstatus|graceful|help|configtest}
Notes:
- There is an extra config file in /etc/sysconfig/httpd which can be used to change to the worker mpm /usr/sbin/httpd.worker.
- Extra config files named *.conf are loaded from /etc/httpd/conf.d. This directory is used by packages like mod_python for drop-in configs
- If you're having issues with authorization and your permissions are correct, you might have problems with SELinux permissions. Take a look at httpd_selinux(8) and related documentation. Particularly sealert(8) can be used for analysis and suggested solutions.
RedHat 9.0 and older:
ServerRoot :: /etc/httpd
Primary Config Fle :: /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
DocumentRoot :: /var/www/html
ErrorLog :: /var/log/httpd/error_log
AccessLog :: /var/log/httpd/access_log
cgi-bin :: /var/www/cgi-bin (empty and disabled by default)
binary :: /usr/sbin/httpd
start/stop :: /sbin/service httpd {start|stop|restart|condrestart|reload|status|fullstatus|graceful|help|configtest}
Mandriva (Apache httpd 2.2):
ServerRoot :: /etc/httpd
Primary Config Fle :: /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
DocumentRoot :: /var/www/html
ErrorLog :: /var/log/httpd/error_log
AccessLog :: /var/log/httpd/access_log
cgi-bin :: /var/www/cgi-bin
binary :: /usr/sbin/httpd
start/stop :: /sbin/service httpd
{start|stop|restart|reload|graceful|condreload|closelogs|update|condrestart|status|extendedstatus|configtest|configtest_vhosts|semcleanrestart|debug|show_defines}
Mac OS X (Leopard, Apache httpd 2.2):
ServerRoot :: /usr Primary Config Fle :: /etc/apache2/httpd.conf DocumentRoot :: /Library/WebServer/Documents ErrorLog :: /var/log/apache2/error_log AccessLog :: /var/log/apache2/access_log cgi-bin :: /Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables (empty by default) binary :: /usr/sbin/httpd start/stop :: /usr/sbin/apachectl (start|stop|restart|fullstatus|status|graceful|graceful-stop|configtest|help)
Notes:
- apachectl graceful is equivalent to apachectl restart and doesn't keep running connections alive. Similarly, graceful-stop is not graceful.
- The
/usr/sbin/envvarsscript is ineffective for setting environment variables. See http://lists.apple.com/archives/web-dev/2008/Apr/msg00059.html
NetBSD Apache httpd 2.0 and 1.3 from pkgsrc (layout is identical):
ServerRoot :: /usr/pkg Config File :: /usr/pkg/etc/httpd/httpd.conf DocumentRoot :: /usr/pkg/share/httpd/htdocs ErrorLog :: /var/log/httpd/error_log AccessLog :: /var/log/httpd/access_log cgi-bin :: /usr/pkg/libexec/cgi-bin binaries (apachectl) :: /usr/pkg/sbin start/stop :: /etc/rc.d/apache [fast|force|one](start stop restart rcvar reload status poll) /etc/rc.conf variables :: apache=YES, apache_start="start" (or "startssl")
Notes:
- The "apache" script must be copied from the installation default /usr/pkg/share/examples/rc.d to /etc/rc.d (for automatic rc.conf usage) or /usr/pkg/etc/rc.d (for advanced usage).
FreeBSD 6.1 (Apache httpd 2.2):
ServerRoot :: /usr/local Config File :: /usr/local/etc/apache22/httpd.conf DocumentRoot :: /usr/local/www/apache22/data ErrorLog :: /var/log/httpd-error.log AccessLog :: /var/log/httpd-access.log cgi-bin :: /usr/local/www/apache22/cgi-bin binaries (apachectl) :: /usr/local/sbin start/stop :: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache22.sh (start|restart|stop|reload|graceful|gracefulstop|configtest) /etc/rc.conf variables :: apache22_enable="YES"
Notes:
- Other variables to insert in rc.conf are listed in the comments at the top of the start/stop script
- To start 2.2 on freebsd 6.1 the accf_http kernel module must be loaded. To do this once, run {{kldload accf_http }}. To do so at boot time, add accf_http_load=”YES” to /boot/loader.conf
- Apache 2.2.6 in the FreeBSD 6.2 release will start regardless of the accf_http kernel module being loaded, and by default doesn't use it. To reverse this, add apache22_http_accept_enable="YES" to /etc/rc.conf (which will cause the kernel module to be loaded and Apache to use it).
FreeBSD 6.1 (Apache httpd 2.0):
ServerRoot :: /usr/local Config File :: /usr/local/etc/apache2/httpd.conf DocumentRoot :: /usr/local/www/data ErrorLog :: /var/log/httpd-error.log AccessLog :: /var/log/httpd-access.log cgi-bin :: /usr/local/www/cgi-bin binaries (apachectl) :: /usr/local/sbin start/stop :: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache2.sh [fast|force|one](start|restart|stop|reload|configtest|rcvar) /etc/rc.conf variables :: apache2_enable="YES"
Notes:
- Other variables to insert in rc.conf are listed in the comments at the top of the start/stop script
OpenBSD 5.0 (Apache httpd 1.3 (Hardened version for OpenBSD)):
ServerRoot :: /var/www Config File :: /var/www/conf/httpd.conf DocumentRoot :: /var/www/htdocs ErrorLog :: /var/www/logs/error_log AccessLog :: /var/www/logs/access_log cgi-bin :: /var/www/cgi-bin binaries (apachectl) :: /usr/sbin/apachectl start/stop :: /usr/sbin/apachectl (start|startssl|stop|restart|graceful|status|fullstatus|configtest|help) user:group :: www:www
Notes:
- The OpenBSD team has added default chrooting, privilege revocation, and other security-related improvements to their Apache httpd 1.3 package.
OpenBSD 5.0 (Apache httpd 2.2 (Unedited, non-hardened version)):
ServerRoot :: /var/apache2 Config File :: /etc/apache2/httpd2.conf DocumentRoot :: /var/apache2/htdocs/ ErrorLog :: /var/apache2/logs/error_log AccessLog :: /var/apache2/logs/access_log cgi-bin :: /var/apache2/cgi-bin binaries (apachectl) :: /usr/local/sbin/apachectl2 start/stop :: /usr/local/sbin/apachectl2 (start|stop|restart|graceful|graceful-stop|status|fullstatus|configtest) user:group :: _apache2:_apache2
Win32 (Apache httpd 2.2):
ServerRoot :: "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2" Config File :: "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/conf/httpd.conf" DocumentRoot :: "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs" ErrorLog :: "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/logs/error.log" AccessLog :: "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/logs/access.log" cgi-bin :: "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/cgi-bin/" binaries (apachectl) :: "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/bin"
Notes;
- There are extra config files in "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/conf/extra" that can be included for options such as vhosts
Solaris 10 (Apache httpd 2.0):
ServerRoot :: /usr/apache2 Config File :: /etc/apache2/httpd.conf DocumentRoot :: /var/apache2/htdocs ErrorLog :: /var/apache2/logs/error_log AccessLog :: /var/apache2/logs/access_log cgi-bin :: /var/apache2/cgi-bin binaries :: /usr/apache2/bin
Notes:
- Config needs to be copied from example file to httpd.conf. Apache-1.3 is the default installation in /etc/init.d and /etc/rc3.d files.
Slackware 14.0+ (Apache httpd 2.4):
ServerRoot :: /usr
DocumentRoot :: /svr/httpd/htdocs
AccessLog :: /var/log/httpd/access_log
ErrorLog :: /var/log/httpd/error_log
binaries (apachectl) :: /usr/sbin
modules :: /usr/lib(64)/httpd
system startup script :: /etc/rc.d/rc.httpd (start|restart|graceful|graceful-stop|stop)
Apache config file :: /etc/httpd/httpd.conf
mod_ssl config file :: /etc/httpd/extra/httpd-ssl.conf
mod_php config file :: /etc/httpd/mod_php.conf
vhosts config file :: /etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
cgi-bin :: /srv/httpd/cgi-bin
on-line docs ("manual") :: /srv/httpd/htdocs/manual
openSUSE and SLES (Apache httpd 2.2):
ServerRoot :: /srv/www DocumentRoot :: /srv/www/htdocs Apache Config File :: /etc/apache2/httpd.conf Other Config Files :: /etc/sysconfig/apache2 SSL Config File :: /etc/apache2/ssl-global.conf ErrorLog :: /var/log/apache2/error_log AccessLog :: /var/log/apache2/access_log cgi-bin :: /srv/www/cgi-bin binaries (apachectl) :: /usr/sbin start/stop :: /etc/init.d/apache2 (start|restart|restart-graceful|reload|graceful|graceful-stop|stop|configtest)
Notes:
- Modules are enabled in /etc/sysconfig/apache2 which is read by the startup script. The a2enmod/a2dismod tool can be used to activate/deactivate modules.
- See /usr/share/doc/packages/apache2/README.SUSE for more information.
Gentoo (Apache httpd 2.2):
ServerRoot :: /usr/lib/apache2 DocumentRoot :: /var/www/localhost/htdocs Apache Config File :: /etc/apache2/httpd.conf Other Config Files :: /etc/conf.d/apache2 Default VHost Config :: /etc/apache2/vhosts.d/00_default_vhost.conf Module Configuration :: /etc/apache2/modules.d Module Locations :: /usr/lib/apache2/modules ErrorLog :: /var/log/apache2/error_log AccessLog :: /var/log/apache2/access_log cgi-bin :: /var/www/localhost/cgi-bin binaries (apache2ctl) :: /usr/sbin start/stop :: /etc/init.d/apache2 (start|restart|graceful|stop|configtest)
Notes:
- To enable a module, "-D MODULENAME" must be added to APACHE_OPTS in /etc/conf.d/apache2
TODO:
Add:
- Netware. eek!
Add apache group name in different distros (ex: ubuntu: www-data, CentOs: apache ...etc)