Hello, Captain Default! Just one more step!

This is the default welcome page used to test the correct operation of the Apache2 server after installation on Ubuntu systems. If you can read this page, it means that the Apache HTTP server installed at this site is working properly. You should replace this file (located at /var/www/html/index.html) before continuing to operate your HTTP server.

Configuration Overview

Ubuntu's Apache2 default configuration is different from the upstream default configuration, and split into several files optimized for interaction with Ubuntu tools. The configuration system is fully documented in /usr/share/doc/apache2/README.Debian.gz. Refer to this for the full documentation.

The configuration layout for an Apache2 web server installation on Ubuntu systems is as follows:

/etc/apache2/
|-- apache2.conf
|       `--  ports.conf
|-- mods-enabled
|       |-- *.load
|       `-- *.conf
|-- conf-enabled
|       `-- *.conf
|-- sites-enabled
|       `-- *.conf
          
  • apache2.conf is the main configuration file. It puts the pieces together by including all remaining configuration files when starting up the web server.
  • ports.conf is always included from the main configuration file. It is used to determine the listening ports for incoming connections, and this file can be customized anytime.
  • Configuration files in the mods-enabled/, conf-enabled/ and sites-enabled/ directories contain particular configuration snippets which manage modules, global configuration fragments, or virtual host configurations, respectively.
  • The binary is called apache2. Due to the use of environment variables, in the default configuration, apache2 needs to be started/stopped with /etc/init.d/apache2 or apache2ctl. Calling /usr/bin/apache2 directly will not work with the default configuration.