apache2 Cookbook

This cookbook provides a complete Debian/Ubuntu style Apache HTTPD configuration. Non-Debian based distributions such as Red Hat/CentOS, ArchLinux and others supported by this cookbook will have a configuration that mimics Debian/Ubuntu style as it is easier to manage with Chef.

Debian-style Apache configuration uses scripts to manage modules and sites (vhosts). The scripts are:

• a2ensite
• a2dissite
• a2enmod
• a2dismod
• a2enconf
• a2disconf

This cookbook ships with templates of these scripts for non Debian/Ubuntu platforms. The scripts are used in the Definitions below.

Cookbooks:

This cookbook has no direct external dependencies.

Depending on your OS configuration and security policy, you may need additional recipes or cookbooks for this cookbook's recipes to converge on the node. In particular, the following Operating System settings may affect the behavior of this cookbook:

• apt cache outdated
• SELinux enabled
• firewalls (such as iptables, ufw, etc.)
• Compile tools
• 3rd party repositories

On Ubuntu/Debian, use apt cookbook to ensure the package cache is updated so Chef can install packages, or consider putting apt-get in your bootstrap process or knife bootstrap template

On RHEL, SELinux is enabled by default. The selinux cookbook contains a permissive recipe that can be used to set SELinux to "Permissive" state. Otherwise, additional recipes need to be created by the user to address SELinux permissions.

To deal with firewalls Chef Software does provide an iptables and ufw cookbook but is migrating from the approach used there to a more robust solution utilizing the general firewall cookbook to setup rules. See those cookbooks' READMEs for documentation.

Build/compile tools may not be installed on the system by default. Some recipes (e.g., apache2::mod_auth_openid) build the module from source. Use the build-essential cookbook to get essential build packages installed.

On ArchLinux, if you are using the apache2::mod_auth_openid recipe, you also need the pacman cookbook for the pacman_aur LWRP. Put recipe[pacman] on the node's expanded run list (on the node or in a role). This is not an explicit dependency because it is only required for this single recipe and platform; the pacman default recipe performs pacman -Sy to keep pacman's package cache updated.

Platforms:

The following platforms and versions are tested and supported using test-kitchen

• Amazon Linux 2013.09+
• Ubuntu 14.04 / 16.04
• Debian 8/9
• CentOS 7
• Fedora
• OpenSUSE Leap

Notes for RHEL Family:

On Red Hat Enterprise Linux and derivatives, the EPEL repository may be necessary to install packages used in certain recipes. The apache2::default recipe, however, does not require any additional repositories. The yum-epel cookbook can be used to add the EPEL repository. See Examples for more information.

Usage

Using this cookbook is relatively straightforward. It is recommended to create a project or organization specific wrapper cookbook and add the desired recipes to the run list of a node, or create a role. Depending on your environment, you may have multiple roles that use different recipes from this cookbook. Adjust any attributes as desired. For example, to create a basic role for web servers that provide both HTTP and HTTPS:

    % cat roles/webserver.rb
    name "webserver"
    description "Systems that serve HTTP and HTTPS"
    run_list(
      "recipe[apache2]",
      "recipe[apache2::mod_ssl]"
    )
    default_attributes(
      "apache" => {
        "listen" => ["*:80", "*:443"]
      }
    )

For examples of using the definitions in your own recipes, see their respective sections below.

Attributes

This cookbook uses many attributes, broken up into a few different kinds.

Platform specific

In order to support the broadest number of platforms, several attributes are determined based on the node's platform. See the attributes/default.rb file for default values in the case statement at the top of the file.

• node['apache']['package'] - Package name for Apache2
• node['apache']['perl_pkg'] - Package name for Perl
• node['apache']['dir'] - Location for the Apache configuration
• node['apache']['log_dir'] - Location for Apache logs
• node['apache']['error_log'] - Location for the default error log
• node['apache']['access_log'] - Location for the default access log
• node['apache']['user'] - User Apache runs as
• node['apache']['group'] - Group Apache runs as
• node['apache']['binary'] - Apache httpd server daemon
• node['apache']['conf_dir'] - Location for the main config file (e.g apache2.conf or httpd.conf)
• node['apache']['docroot_dir'] - Location for docroot
• node['apache']['cgibin_dir'] - Location for cgi-bin
• node['apache']['icondir'] - Location for icons
• node['apache']['cache_dir'] - Location for cached files used by Apache itself or recipes
• node['apache']['pid_file'] - Location of the PID file for Apache httpd
• node['apache']['lib_dir'] - Location for shared libraries
• node['apache']['default_site_enabled'] - Default site enabled. Default is false.
• node['apache']['ext_status'] - if true, enables ExtendedStatus for mod_status
• node['apache']['locale'] - Locale to set in sysconfig or envvars and used for subprocesses and modules (like mod_dav and mod_wsgi). On debian systems Uses system-local if set to 'system', defaults to 'C'.

General settings

These are general settings used in recipes and templates. Default values are noted.

• node['apache']['listen'] - Array of address:port combinations that httpd should listen on. Default is any address and port 80 (["*:80"]).
• node['apache']['contact'] - Value for ServerAdmin directive. Default "[email protected]".
• node['apache']['timeout'] - Value for the Timeout directive. Default is 300.
• node['apache']['keepalive'] - Value for the KeepAlive directive. Default is On.
• node['apache']['keepaliverequests'] - Value for MaxKeepAliveRequests. Default is 100.
• node['apache']['keepalivetimeout'] - Value for the KeepAliveTimeout directive. Default is 5.
• node['apache']['sysconfig_additional_params'] - Additionals variables set in sysconfig file. Default is empty.
• node['apache']['log_level'] - Value for LogLevel directive. Default is 'warn'.
• node['apache']['default_modules'] - Array of module names. Can take "mod_FOO" or "FOO" as names, where FOO is the apache module, e.g. "mod_status" or "status".
• node['apache']['mpm'] - With apache.version 2.4, specifies what Multi-Processing Module to enable. Defaults to platform default, otherwise it is "prefork"

The modules listed in default_modules will be included as recipes in recipe[apache::default].

Prefork attributes

Prefork attributes are used for tuning the Apache HTTPD prefork MPM configuration.

• node['apache']['prefork']['startservers'] - initial number of server processes to start. Default is 16.
• node['apache']['prefork']['minspareservers'] - minimum number of spare server processes. Default 16.
• node['apache']['prefork']['maxspareservers'] - maximum number of spare server processes. Default 32.
• node['apache']['prefork']['serverlimit'] - upper limit on configurable server processes. Default 256.
• node['apache']['prefork']['maxrequestworkers'] - Maximum number of connections that will be processed simultaneously. Default 256.
• node['apache']['prefork']['maxconnectionsperchild'] - Maximum number of request a child process will handle. Default 10000.

Worker attributes

Worker attributes are used for tuning the Apache HTTPD worker MPM configuration.

• node['apache']['worker']['startservers'] - Initial number of server processes to start. Default 4
• node['apache']['worker']['serverlimit'] - Upper limit on configurable server processes. Default 16.
• node['apache']['worker']['minsparethreads'] - Minimum number of spare worker threads. Default 64
• node['apache']['worker']['maxsparethreads'] - Maximum number of spare worker threads. Default 192.
• node['apache']['worker']['maxrequestworkers'] - Maximum number of simultaneous connections. Default 1024.
• node['apache']['worker']['maxconnectionsperchild'] - Limit on the number of connections that an individual child server will handle during its life.

Event attributes

Event attributes are used for tuning the Apache HTTPD event MPM configuration.

• node['apache']['event']['startservers'] - Initial number of child server processes created at startup. Default 4.
• node['apache']['event']['serverlimit'] - Upper limit on configurable number of processes. Default 16.
• node['apache']['event']['minsparethreads'] - Minimum number of spare worker threads. Default 64
• node['apache']['event']['maxsparethreads'] - Maximum number of spare worker threads. Default 192.
• node['apache']['event']['threadlimit'] - Upper limit on the configurable number of threads per child process. Default 192.
• node['apache']['event']['threadsperchild'] - Number of threads created by each child process. Default 64.
• node['apache']['event']['maxrequestworkers'] - Maximum number of connections that will be processed simultaneously.
• node['apache']['event']['maxconnectionsperchild'] - Limit on the number of connections that an individual child server will handle during its life.

Other/Unsupported MPM

To use the cookbook with an unsupported mpm (other than prefork, event or worker):

• set node['apache']['mpm'] to the name of the module (e.g. itk)
• in your cookbook, after include_recipe 'apache2' use the apache_module definition to enable/disable the required module(s)

Module specific attributes

Some module recipes have their own attributes that can be used to alter and modify the behavior of this cookbook. Please see the sections for the indivual modules below for more information on those attributes.

Recipes

Most of the recipes in the cookbook are for enabling Apache modules. Where additional configuration or behavior is used, it is documented below in more detail.

The following recipes merely enable the specified module: mod_actions, mod_alias, mod_auth_basic, mod_auth_digest, mod_authn_file, mod_authnz_ldap, mod_authz_default, mod_authz_groupfile, mod_authz_host, mod_authz_user, mod_autoindex, mod_cgi, mod_dav_fs, mod_dav_svn, mod_deflate, mod_dir, mod_env, mod_expires, mod_headers, mod_ldap, mod_log_config, mod_mime, mod_negotiation, mod_proxy, mod_proxy_ajp, mod_proxy_balancer, mod_proxy_connect, mod_proxy_http, mod_python, mod_rewrite, mod_setenvif, mod_status, mod_wsgi, mod_xsendfile.

On RHEL Family distributions, certain modules ship with a config file with the package. The recipes here may delete those configuration files to ensure they don't conflict with the settings from the cookbook, which will use per-module configuration in /etc/httpd/mods-enabled.

default

The default recipe does a number of things to set up Apache HTTPd. It also includes a number of modules based on the attribute node['apache']['default_modules'] as recipes.

mod_auth_cas

This recipe installs the proper package and enables the auth_cas module. It can install from source or package. Package is the default, set the attribute node['apache']['mod_auth_cas']['from_source'] to true to enable source installation. Modify the version to install by changing the attribute node['apache']['mod_auth_cas']['source_revision']. It is a version tag by default, but could be master, or another tag, or branch.

The module configuration is written out with the CASCookiePath set, otherwise an error loading the module may cause Apache to not start.

Note: This recipe does not work on EL 6 platforms unless epel-testing repository is enabled (outside the scope of this cookbook), or the package version 1.0.8.1-3.el6 or higher is otherwise available to the system due to this bug:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?format=multiple&id=708550

mod_auth_openid

This recipe compiles the module from source. In addition to build-essential, some other packages are included for installation like the GNU C++ compiler and development headers.

To use the module in your own cookbooks to authenticate systems using OpenIDs, specify an array of OpenIDs that are allowed to authenticate with the attribute node['apache']['allowed_openids']. Use the following in a vhost to protect with OpenID authentication:

AuthType OpenID require user <%= node['apache']['allowed_openids'].join(' ') %>
AuthOpenIDDBLocation <%= node['apache']['mod_auth_openid']['dblocation'] %>

Change the DBLocation with the attribute as required; this file is in a different location than previous versions, see below. It should be a sane default for most platforms, though, see attributes/mod_auth_openid.rb.

The following attributes are in the attributes/mod_auth_openid.rb file.

• node['apache']['mod_auth_openid']['checksum'] - sha256sum of the tarball containing the source.
• node['apache']['mod_auth_openid']['ref'] - Any sha, tag, or branch found from https://github.com/bmuller/mod_auth_openid
• node['apache']['mod_auth_openid']['version'] - directory name version within the tarball
• node['apache']['mod_auth_openid']['cache_dir'] - the cache directory is where the sqlite3 database is stored. It is separate so it can be managed as a directory resource.
• node['apache']['mod_auth_openid']['dblocation'] - filename of the sqlite3 database used for directive AuthOpenIDDBLocation, stored in the cache_dir by default.
• node['apache']['mod_auth_openid']['configure_flags'] - optional array of configure flags passed to the ./configure step in the compilation of the module.

mod_fastcgi

Install the fastcgi package and enable the module.

Note: In Ubuntu 14.04, the libapache2-mod-fastcgi module is not available by default due to the Multiverse repositories. You need to enable the multiverse repositories either from /etc/apt/sources.list or use the apt cookbook.

mod_fcgid

Installs the fcgi package and enables the module. Requires EPEL on RHEL family.

mod_php

Simply installs the appropriate package and enables the module

• node['apache']['mod_php']['install_method'] - default package can be overridden to avoid package installs.

mod_ssl

Besides installing and enabling mod_ssl, this recipe will append port 443 to the node['apache']['listen'] attributes for all addresses and update the ports.conf.

• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['cipher_suite'] - sets the SSLCiphersuite value to the specified string. The default is considered "sane" but you may need to change it for your local security policy, e.g. if you have PCI-DSS requirements. Additional commentary on the original pull request.
• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['honor_cipher_order'] - Option to prefer the server's cipher preference order. Default 'On'.
• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['insecure_renegotiation'] - Option to enable support for insecure renegotiation. Default 'Off'.
• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['strict_sni_vhost_check'] - Whether to allow non-SNI clients to access a name-based virtual host. Default 'Off'.
• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['session_cache'] - Configures the OCSP stapling cache. Default shmcb:/var/run/apache2/ssl_scache
• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['session_cache_timeout'] - Number of seconds before an SSL session expires in the Session Cache. Default 300.
• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['compression'] - Enable compression on the SSL level. Default 'Off'.
• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['use_stapling'] - Enable stapling of OCSP responses in the TLS handshake. Default 'Off'.
• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['stapling_responder_timeout'] - Timeout for OCSP stapling queries. Default 5
• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['stapling_return_responder_errors'] - Pass stapling related OCSP errors on to client. Default 'Off'
• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['stapling_cache'] - Configures the OCSP stapling cache. Default shmcb:/var/run/ocsp(128000)
• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['pass_phrase_dialog'] - Configures SSLPassPhraseDialog. Default builtin
• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['mutex'] - Configures SSLMutex. Default file:/var/run/apache2/ssl_mutex
• node['apache']['mod_ssl']['directives'] - Hash for add any custom directive.

For general information on these attributes see http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_ssl.html

For more information on these directives and how to best secure your site see

• https://bettercrypto.org/
• https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Server_Side_TLS
• https://www.insecure.ws/linux/apache_ssl.html
• https://hynek.me/articles/hardening-your-web-servers-ssl-ciphers/
• https://istlsfastyet.com/
• https://www.ssllabs.com/projects/best-practices/

Definitions

The cookbook provides a few definitions. At some point in the future these definitions will be refactored into custom resources see issue 414.

apache_conf

Writes conf files to the conf-available folder, and passes enabled values to apache_config.

This definition should generally be called over apache_config.

Parameters:

• name - Name of the config placed and enabled or disabled with the a2enconf or a2disconf scripts.
• enable - Default true, which uses a2enconf to enable the config. If false, the config will be disabled with a2disconf.
• conf_path - path to put the config in if you need to override the default conf-available.
• source - The source configuration template name. The default value is params[:name].conf.erb
• cookbook - The cookbook in which the configuration template is located. The default value is the current cookbook.

Examples:

Place and enable the example conf:

    apache_conf 'example' do
      enable true
    end

Place and disable (or never enable to begin with) the example conf:

    apache_conf 'example' do
      enable false
    end

Place the example conf, which has a different path than the default (conf-*):

    apache_conf 'example' do
      conf_path '/random/example/path'
      enable false
    end

apache_config (internal)

Sets up configuration file for Apache from a template. The template should be in the same cookbook where the definition is used. This is used by the apache_conf definition and should not be used directly.

It will use a2enconf and a2disconf to control the symlinking of configuration files between conf-available and conf-enabled.

Enable or disable an Apache config file in #{node['apache']['dir']}/conf-available by calling a2enconf or a2disconf to manage the symbolic link in #{node['apache']['dir']}/conf-enabled. These config files should be created in your cookbook, and placed on the system using apache_conf

Parameters:

• name - Name of the config enabled or disabled with the a2enconf or a2disconf scripts.
• source - The location of a template file. The default name.erb.
• cookbook - The cookbook in which the configuration template is located (if it is not located in the current cookbook). The default value is the current cookbook.
• enable - Default true, which uses a2enconf to enable the config. If false, the config will be disabled with a2disconf.

Examples:

Enable the example config.

    apache_config 'example' do
      enable true
    end

Disable a module:

    apache_config 'disabled_example' do
      enable false
    end

See the recipes directory for many more examples of apache_config.

apache_module

Enable or disable an Apache module in #{node['apache']['dir']}/mods-available by calling a2enmod or a2dismod to manage the symbolic link in #{node['apache']['dir']}/mods-enabled. If the module has a configuration file, a template should be created in the cookbook where the definition is used. See Examples.

Parameters:

• name - Name of the module enabled or disabled with the a2enmod or a2dismod scripts.
• identifier - String to identify the module for the LoadModule directive. Not typically needed, defaults to #{name}_module
• enable - Default true, which uses a2enmod to enable the module. If false, the module will be disabled with a2dismod.
• conf - Default false. Set to true if the module has a config file, which will use apache_mod for the file.
• filename - specify the full name of the file, e.g.

Examples:

Enable the ssl module, which also has a configuration template in templates/default/mods/ssl.conf.erb.

    apache_module "ssl" do
      conf true
    end

Enable the php5 module, which has a different filename than the module default:

    apache_module "php5" do
      filename "libphp5.so"
    end

Disable a module:

    apache_module "disabled_module" do
      enable false
    end

See the recipes directory for many more examples of apache_module.

apache_mod (internal)

Sets up configuration file for an Apache module from a template. The template should be in the same cookbook where the definition is used. This is used by the apache_module definition and is not often used directly.

This will use a template resource to write the module's configuration file in the mods-available under the Apache configuration directory (node['apache']['dir']). This is a platform-dependent location. See apache_module.

Parameters:

• name - Name of the template. When used from the apache_module, it will use the same name as the module.

Examples:

Create #{node['apache']['dir']}/mods-available/alias.conf.

    apache_mod "alias"

apache_site

Enable or disable a VirtualHost in #{node['apache']['dir']}/sites-available by calling a2ensite or a2dissite to manage the symbolic link in #{node['apache']['dir']}/sites-enabled.

The template for the site must be managed as a separate resource. To combine the template with enabling a site, see web_app.

Parameters:

• name - Name of the site.
• enable - Default true, which uses a2ensite to enable the site. If false, the site will be disabled with a2dissite.

web_app

Manage a template resource for a VirtualHost site, and enable it with apache_site. This is commonly done for managing web applications such as Ruby on Rails, PHP or Django, and the default behavior reflects that. However it is flexible.

This definition includes some recipes to make sure the system is configured to have Apache and some sane default modules:

• apache2
• apache2::mod_rewrite
• apache2::mod_deflate
• apache2::mod_headers

It will then configure the template (see Parameters and Examples below), and enable or disable the site per the enable parameter.

Parameters:

Current parameters used by the definition:

• name - The name of the site. The template will be written to #{node['apache']['dir']}/sites-available/#{params['name']}.conf
• cookbook - Optional. Cookbook where the source template is. If this is not defined, Chef will use the named template in the cookbook where the definition is used.
• template - Default web_app.conf.erb, source template file.
• enable - Default true. Passed to the apache_site definition.

Additional parameters can be defined when the definition is called in a recipe, see Examples.

Examples:

The recommended way to use the web_app definition is in a application specific cookbook named "my_app". The following example would look for a template named 'web_app.conf.erb' in your cookbook containing the apache httpd directives defining the VirtualHost that would serve up "my_app".

    web_app "my_app" do
       template 'web_app.conf.erb'
       server_name node['my_app']['hostname']
    end

All parameters are passed into the template. You can use whatever you like. The apache2 cookbook comes with a web_app.conf.erb template as an example. The following parameters are used in the template:

• server_name - ServerName directive.
• server_aliases - ServerAlias directive. Must be an array of aliases.
• docroot - DocumentRoot directive.
• application_name - Used in RewriteLog directive. Will be set to the name parameter.
• directory_index - Allow overriding the default DirectoryIndex setting, optional
• directory_options - Override Options on the docroot, for example to add parameters like Includes or Indexes, optional.
• allow_override - Modify the AllowOverride directive on the docroot to support apps that need .htaccess to modify configuration or require authentication.

To use the default web_app, for example:

    web_app "my_site" do
      server_name node['hostname']
      server_aliases [node['fqdn'], "my-site.example.com"]
      docroot "/srv/www/my_site"
      cookbook 'apache2'
    end

The parameters specified will be used as:

• @params[:server_name]
• @params[:server_aliases]
• @params[:docroot]

In the template. When you write your own, the @ is significant.

License and Authors

* Author:: Adam Jacob <[email protected]>
* Author:: Joshua Timberman <[email protected]>
* Author:: Bryan McLellan <[email protected]>
* Author:: Dave Esposito <[email protected]>
* Author:: David Abdemoulaie <[email protected]>
* Author:: Edmund Haselwanter <[email protected]>
* Author:: Eric Rochester <[email protected]>
* Author:: Jim Browne <[email protected]>
* Author:: Matthew Kent <[email protected]>
* Author:: Nathen Harvey <[email protected]>
* Author:: Ringo De Smet <[email protected]>
* Author:: Sean OMeara <[email protected]>
* Author:: Seth Chisamore <[email protected]>
* Author:: Gilles Devaux <[email protected]>
* Author:: Sander van Zoest <[email protected]>
* Author:: Taylor Price <[email protected]>
* Author:: Ben Dean <[email protected]>

* Copyright:: 2009-2017, Chef Software, Inc
* Copyright:: 2011, Atriso
* Copyright:: 2011, CustomInk, LLC.
* Copyright:: 2013-2014, OneHealth Solutions, Inc.
* Copyright:: 2014, Viverae, Inc.
* Copyright:: 2015-2016, Alexander van Zoest
* Copyright:: 2015, Ontario Systems, LLC

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.