Ease Apache 2 server administration with a2tools

This howto is tested on :

• Debian 5.0 Lenny
• Debian 6.0 Squeeze
• Debian 7.0 Wheezy

Prerequisite

This howto needs :

• a Apache 2 HTTP server, as described by Install Apache 2 on Debian.

This howto recommands :

• the enabling of HTTPS on Apache 2, as described by Enable the HTTPS protocol with Apache 2 on Debian.
• the installation of Let's Encrypt client acme.sh, as described by Install the certbot client (Let's Encrypt) acme.sh on Debian.

Installation

Install the tool :

command wget "https://raw.github.com/biapy/howto.biapy.com/master/apache2/a2tools" \
    --quiet --no-check-certificate --output-document="/usr/local/bin/a2tools"
command chmod +x "/usr/local/bin/a2tools"

Introducing a2tools

The details of the tool usage is given by :

command a2tools --help

Simple Virtual Host

Create a virtual host serving a folder :

# command a2tools "www.domain.com" "/opt/www.domain.com"

Redirection

Create a virtual host redirecting a domain and all of its sub-domains to another web site:

# command a2tools --template=redirect \
#         --alias="*.domain.com" \
#         "domain.com" "http://www.domain.com/"

Reverse proxy

Create a virtual host serving a web site hosted on another server (by reverse proxying) :

# command a2tools --template=reverse-proxy "www.domain.com" "http://domain.server.lan/"

Note : On the "domain.server.lan" host, a virtual host "www.domain.com" must be setup. If the "domain.server.lan" use Apache 2, apply the settings described by Get the real IP address of a visitor accessing to a Apache 2 server behind a reverse proxy.

Removal of a domain

Delete all virtual host for a domain:

# command a2tools --remove "www.domain.com" 

Secure host (HTTPS)

Any HTTPS host needs the creation of a valid SSL certificate for its domain name, as described by Create a SSL / TLS certificate on Debian.

Create a HTTPS virtual host with the --ssl='auto' option to automaticaly create a Let's Encrypt certificate:

# sudo a2tools --ssl='auto' 'www.domain.com' '/opt/www.domain.com'

Create a HTTPS virtual host with the --ssl option having for argument the name of the choosen SSL certificate (generaly, the domain name of the web site), if you have an existing certificate :

# command a2tools --ssl='www.domain.com' 'www.domain.com' '/opt/www.domain.com'

If the choosen certificate is a wildcard valid for all sub-domains, use:

# command a2tools --ssl='*.domain.com' 'www.domain.com" '/opt/www.domain.com'

Note: Adding an argument to the --ssl option is equivalent to use these options:

# command a2tools --ssl \
#         --private-key="/etc/ssl/private/www.domain.com.key" \
#         --public-key="/etc/ssl/certificates/www.domain.com.crt" \
#         --root-ca="/etc/ssl/roots/www.domain.com-root.ca" \
#         --chain-ca="/etc/ssl/chains/www.domain.com.ca" \
#        'www.domain.com' '/opt/www.domain.com'

A missing functionnality from Internet Explorer 6 to 8 on Windows XP limits to one SSL certificate by IP address. To host many sub-domains on a same server, the use of wildcard certificates (ie. "*.domain.com") is recommanded.

To host several domains on one server without errors on Internet Explorer ,use the option --bind-ip to specify the IP address linked to the choosen SSL certificate. If you own a OVH server, assign a failover IP to the server.