How To Install mod_evasive on Apache 2.4 in Rocky Linux 9

Author: erics, April 15th, 2025

If you’re running Apache 2.4 on Rocky Linux 9 and want to protect your web server against basic DoS, DDoS, or brute-force attacks, installing mod_evasive is a solid option. Unfortunately, the module isn’t included by default, and some manual work is required to get it running. Here’s a quick guide to getting it installed and […]

Categories: How-To's, Technology Tags: apache, dos, howto, httpd, mod_evasive, tips | No comments

How To Display All Virtual Hosts Defined for Apache 2

Author: erics, January 29th, 2024

httpd -t -D DUMP_VHOSTS

1	httpd -t -D DUMP_VHOSTS

Categories: How-To's, Technology Tags: apache, Apache 2.4, Apache2, conf.d, howto, httpd, tips, vhost | No comments

How To Fix WordPress Gateway Timeout Errors Running Apache with PHP-FPM

Author: erics, April 11th, 2023

PROBLEM: I was seeing the following error when trying to do a plugin update, and an error in my WordPress logs: Update failed: 504 Gateway Timeout Gateway Timeout The gateway did not receive a timely response from the upstream server or application. [Tue Apr 11 22:12:01.373709 2023] [proxy_fcgi:error] [pid 26878] (70007)The timeout specified has expired: […]

Categories: How-To's, Technology Tags: 00-proxy_timeout.conf, 504, 504 ERROR, 504 Gateway Timeout, apache, fcgid.conf, Gateway Timeout, Gateway Timeout (504), Gateway Timeout Error, howto, HTTP 504, HTTP Error 504 – Gateway Timeout, Performance, php-fpm, Restart, Speed, systemctl, Timeout, tips, tuning | No comments

How To Redirect to https in Apache Using mod_rewrite

Author: erics, November 17th, 2017

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI}

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RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off

RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI}

Categories: How-To's, Technology Tags: apache, Apache 2.2, Apache2, howto, http, https, mod_rewrite, redirect, tips | No comments

How To Watch https Calls to Apache 2.4 using Perl and mod_status

Author: erics, September 5th, 2017

Step 1: Enable Apache status and lock it down: Make sure mod_status is being loaded:

shell> grep -Rn mod_status /etc/httpd/*

/etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-base.conf:58:LoadModule status_module modules/mod_status.so

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shell> grep -Rn mod_status /etc/httpd/*

/etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-base.conf:58:LoadModule status_module modules/mod_status.so

Add support for the call just under the first DocumentRoot statement:

shell> vim /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

<Location /server-status>
    SetHandler server-status
    Require ip 127.0.0.1
    Require ip ::1
    Require ip {Your_IP_Here}
</Location>

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shell> vim /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

SetHandler server-status

Require ip 127.0.0.1

Require ip ::1

Require ip {Your_IP_Here}

</Location>

Step 2. Prepare your environment:

shell> cpan YAML HTML::TableExtract

1	shell> cpan YAML HTML::TableExtract

Step 3: Create and run the status script: (See the astat contents at the bottom)

shell> vim /root/astat
shell> chmod 755 /root/astat
shell> vi ~/.bashrc

ADD: alias ipw='while true; do sleep 5; /root/astat; done'

shell> ipw

1.2.3.4|yourdomain.com:443|POST /wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron=1563901063.57946491241455078125|

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shell> vim /root/astat

shell> chmod 755 /root/astat

shell> vi ~/.bashrc

ADD: alias ipw='while true; do sleep 5; /root/astat; done'

shell> ipw

1.2.3.4|yourdomain.com:443|POST /wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron=1563901063.57946491241455078125|

/root/astat

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;

use HTML::TableExtract;

# PATH to "curl" utility
my $CURL = "/usr/bin/curl";

# URL of the server-status we want to process
my $STATUS_URL = "http://localhost/server-status";

# those are the headers in the first row of the table we want to extract
# Used by HTML::TableExtract to search for our table, within the whole HTML output
my $headers =['Srv','PID','Acc','M','CPU','SS','Req','Conn','Child','Slot','Client','VHost','Request'];

# Let's fetch the status page...
my $output = `$CURL -s $STATUS_URL`;

# Let's search for our table within the HTML...
my $tables = HTML::TableExtract->new( headers => $headers );

# We found it (hopefully), so let's parse it...
$tables->parse($output);

# ...and let's stick to the first one
my $status_table = $tables->first_table_found;

# Now let's loop allover the rows...
foreach my $row_ref ($status_table->rows) {
      # Let's de-reference the ARRAY reference, so to better manager
      # the various elements...
      my @row = @$row_ref;

      # Let's check for IP
      next if $row[10]=~/127.0.0.1/;
      next if $row[10]=~/216.66.125.161/;
      next if $row[10]=~/69.162.124.235/;

      # Let's check for an OPTIONS row...
      if ($row[12]=~/OPTIONS/) {
         # simply skip to next row in the loop
         next;
      }

      # Let's choose whatever columns we want (first column has index "0")
      # So here we have Srv, PID, Client and Request
      #foreach my $column (0,1,10,12) {
      foreach my $column (10,11,12) {
        print $row[$column]."|";
      }
      print "\n";
}

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#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;

use HTML::TableExtract;

# PATH to "curl" utility

my $CURL = "/usr/bin/curl";

# URL of the server-status we want to process

my $STATUS_URL = "http://localhost/server-status";

# those are the headers in the first row of the table we want to extract

# Used by HTML::TableExtract to search for our table, within the whole HTML output

my $headers =['Srv','PID','Acc','M','CPU','SS','Req','Conn','Child','Slot','Client','VHost','Request'];

# Let's fetch the status page...

my $output = `$CURL -s $STATUS_URL`;

# Let's search for our table within the HTML...

my $tables = HTML::TableExtract->new( headers => $headers );

# We found it (hopefully), so let's parse it...

$tables->parse($output);

# ...and let's stick to the first one

my $status_table = $tables->first_table_found;

# Now let's loop allover the rows...

foreach my $row_ref ($status_table->rows) {

# Let's de-reference the ARRAY reference, so to better manager

# the various elements...

my @row = @$row_ref;

# Let's check for IP

next if $row[10]=~/127.0.0.1/;

next if $row[10]=~/216.66.125.161/;

next if $row[10]=~/69.162.124.235/;

# Let's check for an OPTIONS row...

if ($row[12]=~/OPTIONS/) {

# simply skip to next row in the loop

next;

}

# Let's choose whatever columns we want (first column has index "0")

# So here we have Srv, PID, Client and Request

#foreach my $column (0,1,10,12) {

foreach my $column (10,11,12) {

print $row[$column]."|";

}

print "\n";

}

Categories: How-To's, Technology Tags: 2.4, apache, Apache 2.4, CPAN, howto, http, httpd, https, mod_status, perl, Status, tips, YAML | No comments

How To Configure Apache 2.4 to Renew LetsEncrypt running WordPress and https

Author: erics, August 21st, 2017

This post does not cover configuring letsencrypt or ssl/https. First, make sure your LetsEncrypt configuration points to the actual WordPress document root directory cat /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/www.yourdomain.com.conf

...
[[webroot_map]]
yourdomain.com = /volumes/data/www/yourdomain.com/prod/wordpress
www.yourdomain.com = /volumes/data/www/yourdomain.com/prod/wordpress

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...

[[webroot_map]]

yourdomain.com = /volumes/data/www/yourdomain.com/prod/wordpress

www.yourdomain.com = /volumes/data/www/yourdomain.com/prod/wordpress

Second, use the new macro language feature in Apache 2.4 to configure an https redirect macro which does NOT redirect to https for anything in the .well-known subdirectory. This […]

Categories: How-To's, Technology Tags: 2.4, Acme, apache, Apache 2.4, Encrypt, https, LetsEncrypt, redirect, Renew, well-known, WordPress | No comments

How To Change the umask for Apache on AWS Linux

Author: erics, September 22nd, 2016

echo “umask 002” >> /etc/sysconfig/httpd service httpd restart

Categories: How-To's, Technology Tags: apache, howto, tips, umask | No comments

How To Protect a WordPress Site Using Basic Auth in Apache 2.4

Author: erics, August 25th, 2016

Apache 2.4 changed the security configuration directives a bit. Here is an example using basic auth:

<Directory "/path/to/your/wordpress">
   AllowOverride All 
   Options +FollowSymLinks +ExecCGI -Indexes
   Order allow,deny
   Allow from all

   <RequireAll>
      AuthType Basic
      AuthName "Protected Resource"
      AuthUserFile /path/to/your/.htpasswd
      Require valid-user
   </RequireAll>

</Directory>

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AllowOverride All

Options +FollowSymLinks +ExecCGI -Indexes

Order allow,deny

Allow from all

AuthType Basic

AuthName "Protected Resource"

AuthUserFile /path/to/your/.htpasswd

Require valid-user

</RequireAll>

</Directory>

What tripped me up for a while was that I still had the Require all granted directive inside the container, and that needed to be removed for the auth to work.

Categories: How-To's, Technology Tags: 2.4, apache, Apache 2.4, Auth, Authentication, Basic, howto, htpasswd, mod_auth, Protect, require, security, tips | No comments

How To Fix Apache VirtualHost Overlap on Port 443 on AWS Linux

Author: erics, July 4th, 2016

If you get this error when starting Apache or via apachectl configtest: [warn] _default_ VirtualHost overlap on port 443, the first has precedence then you must add: NameVirtualHost *:443 to /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf, then restart Apache

Categories: How-To's, Technology Tags: 443, apache, AWS, CentOS, howto, https, Linux, Overlap, ssl, tips, VirtualHost, Web | No comments

How To Use wget with Basic Auth

Author: erics, June 9th, 2016

If you need to use wget to obtain the contents of a web page, but that page has either Basic or Digest Authentication enabled, use the following syntax to gain access: wget –http-user=yourUserNameHere –http-password=yourSecretPasswordHere http://example.org/desired/path/ ~or~ wget http://yourUserNameHere:yourSecretPasswordHere@yourSite.com/desired/path/

Categories: How-To's, Technology Tags: apache, Auth, Basic, Basic Auth, Digest, howto, Password, scrape, tips, wget | No comments

How To Install mod_evasive on Apache 2.4 in Rocky Linux 9

How To Display All Virtual Hosts Defined for Apache 2

How To Fix WordPress Gateway Timeout Errors Running Apache with PHP-FPM

How To Redirect to https in Apache Using mod_rewrite

How To Watch https Calls to Apache 2.4 using Perl and mod_status

How To Configure Apache 2.4 to Renew LetsEncrypt running WordPress and https

How To Change the umask for Apache on AWS Linux

How To Protect a WordPress Site Using Basic Auth in Apache 2.4

How To Fix Apache VirtualHost Overlap on Port 443 on AWS Linux

How To Use wget with Basic Auth

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