Install and Configure Web Application

🎯 Objective

Learn how to deploy a web application on a Linux server by installing a web server and configuring it to serve application files.

In many environments, applications run on a web server like:

In this example, we will deploy a simple PHP web application using Apache.

# 1️⃣ Install Apache Web Server

Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2 -y

RHEL / CentOS / Amazon Linux

sudo yum install httpd -y

# 2️⃣ Start and Enable Apache

Start service:

sudo systemctl start httpd

Enable at boot:

sudo systemctl enable httpd

Check status:

sudo systemctl status httpd

# 3️⃣ Install PHP for Web Application

Install PHP and required modules:

sudo yum install php php-mysqlnd php-fpm php-json php-cli-y

Restart Apache:

sudo systemctl restart httpd

# 4️⃣ Deploy Web Application

Default Apache web root:

/var/www/html/

Create a test application:

sudo nano /var/www/html/index.php

Example code:

<?php
echo"Web Application is Running Successfully!";
?>

# 5️⃣ Set Correct Permissions

sudo chown -R apache:apache /var/www/html
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html

# 6️⃣ Configure Firewall

Allow HTTP traffic:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Ports used:

# 7️⃣ Test Web Application

Open browser:

http://server-ip

You should see:

Web Application is Running Successfully!

# 🧠 Web Application Architecture

User Browser
     │
     ▼
 Web Server (Apache)
     │
     ▼
 Application Code (PHP)
     │
     ▼
 Database Server

Example database servers:

# 🧪 Troubleshooting

Check Apache status

sudo systemctl status httpd

Check logs

sudo tail -f /var/log/httpd/error_log

Test configuration

sudo apachectl configtest

# ✅ Summary