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Appliance:Apache Appliance

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The Apache Appliance puts the Web's most popular HTTP server into an easily-deployable form factor. Perfect for serving static content to small and mid-sized organizations, the Apache Appliance makes it easy to set up a new web site that does not require a database!

Download

Download page on rBuilder Online™.

Installation

The fastest way to get started is to download one of the virtual appliance images and boot it. Alternatively, you can download the ISO images and complete the graphical installation to install the Apache Appliance on a dedicated system.

Image:Bulbgraph.png   For more information on using rPath-based appliances with various virtual machine technologies, refer to Using rBuilder Images with Virtual Machines.

Configuration

  • Login to the rPath Appliance Agent interface and complete the wizard. rAA will be at https://<your_ip>:8003/ or http://<your_ip>:8004/.
  • Set a password for web account, it will be used to access your site by ftp/sftp.
  • sftp or ftp your content using user name web and the password you set in the rAA wizard.
  • The Apache service (httpd) starts automatically upon first boot, no additional configuration required.

Installed services and tools

  • Apache 2.0.59
  • PHP 4.3.11 (as Apache module), including gd, iconv, ldap, openssl, xml/xmlrpc extensions
  • Perl 5.8.7, including HTML::Parser, XML, libwww, libxml modules
  • Python 2.4.1, including mod_python 3.1.4
  • openssh 4.5p1, including sftp/scp support
  • vsftpd 2.0.3
  • sendmail 8.13.7
  • bind (named) 9.3.2_P1 -- does not start by default
  • snmpd 5.2.1.2 -- does not start by default

All services start by default, except for bind and snmpd.

Administration

While this appliance is designed to be self-contained and require minimal care and feeding, some basic adminstration tasks that you may want to perform are documented below.

Configure networking

By default, this appliance is set to use DHCP to obtain its network address automatically.

To change the network configuration for this appliance, you can use the rPath Appliance Agent web-based configuration UI. See the rPath Appliance Platform User Guide for detailed instructions.

Passwords

Purpose Username Default Password How to Change
console access root empty
  • either use rAA plugin to change root password
  • or execute the following command in console: passwd root
rAA access admin password
  • use rAA plugin to change administrator password
website ftp/sftp access web not set
  • either use rAA plugin to change web password
  • or execute the following command in console: passwd web

Accessing your site

You site resides in the /srv/www/html directory on server. You can upload files with ftp, sftp or scp commands using web user credentials. Newly uploaded files and directories are owned by web user and apache group.

CGI scripts reside in /srv/www/cgi-bin directory on server.

PHP scripts should have .php extension.

Security Tips

  • Use secure https protocol instead of plain http to access rAA.
  • If application's installation guide asks you to make a file or directory world-writable, you can actually make it group-writable with ftp client.

Updates

Unlike software appliances based on "snapshot" techniques, appliances built with rPath technologies can updated incrementally as new features are added by the development team. Launch updates during remote administration through the rPath™ Appliance Platform, or bypass the rPath Appliance Platform to use a direct command.

Update with rPath Appliance Platform

If you have updated to at least version 1.1 (July 28, 2006) of this appliance, you can use the rPath Appliance Platform Agent to update remotely using a web interface. The rPath Appliance Platform Agent interface can be accessed using: 

https://<appliance_ip_or_hostname>:8003/

See the rPath Appliance Platform User Guide for full instructions.

   Please note that if you have added additional packages using conary update, these packages will be removed by a rPath Appliance Platform update. To preserve this custom update of the appliance software, do not use the rPath Appliance Platform Agent. Instead, use conary updateall command line (see next section). Alternatively, you can change rPath Appliance Platform Agent's default behavior by modifying /etc/raa/prod.cfg file and change the line updatetroves.migrate = True to updatetroves.migrate = False

Update with Conary Commands

If you have downloaded a version of the appliance without the rPath Appliance Platform, login to your appliance as root and issue the command: 

conary updateall

This command will update the appliance, including adding the rPath Appliance Platform. If you have added other packages using conary update, they will remain on the system.

Support

Apache Appliance is a community supported project. Questions about Apache Appliance should be raised on the Apache Appliance discussion list

You can also discuss the project using the discussion tab in this wiki.

Developers

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