How To Setup Apache With Web Host
WARNING: THIS PAGE IS FOR THE LEGACY WEB HOST CONFIGURATION. IF YOU ARE USING THE NEW PORTALS
AND THE API, PLEASE REFER THIS THIS PAGE: HOW TO INSTALL AND SETUP APACHE
Preparation
This document assumes that you have already setup web host as per the help document
How to Setup Web Host.
Setup desktop shortcuts or configure tasks in the Windows Task Scheduler to open multiple instances
of Collect on the various port numbers. In the startup options, /S80 would be replaced with the ports
that you want to use (one for each shortcut or scheduled task). For our example below, we have 4
instances running, and they each use /S8091, /S8092, /S8093, /S8094 respectively. Make note of the
actual port numbers that you use as they will be used later in the Apache Configuration below. We
would recommend port numbers that are over 1024 to reduce the chance of conflict.
You will also need to alter existing shortcuts to remove 'ss' or 'ss6' from the /W1 argument. For
example, /W1ss would become /W1.
Install Microsoft Visual Redistributables from
https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/kb/2977003.
Choose the x86 option (32-bit) and x64 installers. 2010 is installed on Server 2012 R2 by default,
so you just need to install 2012 and higher.
Install Wamp
Open a browser and download the applicable version of WAMP from
http://www.wampserver.com/en/.
We recommend that you use the Default Location: C:\wamp64, but it is not required
if you want to use a data drive or have experience with Wamp.
WARNING: The instructions below are specific to Wamp's version of Apache, not Apache directly or
any other web service tool.
Editing Files
Open using a plain-text editor such as UltraEdit, Notepad++, or Sublime Text. Dot not use Notepad or
Word as they add characters or strip hard returns.
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/
C:\wamp64\bin\Apache\Apache2.4.#\conf\httpd.conf
Modify and Add the following to lines 26-28 (line numbers approx.)
ServerSignature Off
ServerTokens Prod
TraceEnable Off
In the Define's section near the top, add:
Define DOMAIN_NAME sub.yourdomain.com
Uncomment (remove the # symbol) from the beginning of the lines in the Dynamic Shared Objects (DSO)
section:
LoadModule headers_module modules/mod_headers.so
LoadModule lbmethod_byrequests_module modules/mod_lbmethod_byrequests.so
LoadModule proxy_module modules/mod_proxy.so
LoadModule proxy_balancer_module modules/mod_proxy_balancer.so
LoadModule proxy_http_module modules/mod_proxy_http.so
LoadModule slotmem_shm_module modules/mod_slotmem_shm.so
LoadModule socache_shmcb_module modules/mod_socache_shmcb.so
LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so
Include conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf
At the bottom of file, add the following line:
Header edit Set-Cookie ^(.*)$ $1;HttpOnly;Secure
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header unset X-Forwarded-Host
</IfModule>
C:\wamp64\bin\Apache\Apache2.4.#\conf\extras\httpd-vhosts.conf
Copy and paste the below into the bottom of the file.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName ${DOMAIN_NAME}
ServerAlias ${DOMAIN_NAME}
DocumentRoot "${INSTALL_DIR}/www"
<Directory "${INSTALL_DIR}/www/">
Options +Indexes +Includes +FollowSymLinks +MultiViews
AllowOverride All
Require local
</Directory>
<Directory "${INSTALL_DIR}/www/.well-known/">
Require all granted
</Directory>
<Directory "${INSTALL_DIR}/www/upload/">
Require all granted
</Directory>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} '!/.well-known/acme-challenge/'
RewriteRule ^ https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [END,NE,R=301]
</VirtualHost>
C:\wamp64\bin\Apache\Apache2.4.#\conf\extras\httpd-ssl.conf
Find the following section (approx. line 125) and update it with the appropriate information for your
server.
General setup for the virtual host
DocumentRoot "${INSTALL_DIR}/www"
ServerName ${DOMAIN_NAME}:443
ServerAdmin info@yourdomain.com
Header set X-Frame-Options sameorigin
Header set X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
Header set X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies "none"
Header set Referrer-Policy "no-referrer"
Header set Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy "same-origin"
Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload"
Alter the following lines with the location of the SSL certs.
SSLCertificateFile "C:/Collect/bin/webhost.crt"
SSLCertificateKeyFile "C:/Collect/bin/webhost.rsa"
SSLCertificateChainFile "C:/Collect/bin/intermediate.crt" #Optional - see below
At some point you will need to generate a TLS/SSL certificate or use Collect!'s built in self-signed
certificate. Optionally, depending on what certificate authority or CA you use, you may also need
to add an intermediate chain file. If that's the case, upload that file, and update and uncomment
SSLCertificateChainFile on line 165.
The SSLCertificateChainFile is optional. If you purchase an SSL certificate, it will likely
come with the intermediate certificate. You can either drop the file into the Collect\bin
folder and is and give it the applicable filename above, or you can rename the file to
intermediate.crt.
You can use Let's Encrypt to automatically manage SSL certificates. Please refer to the
Help topic How To Setup Security Certificates for more information.
Add the following content to the bottom of the httpd-ssl.conf file before </VirtualHost>
(the last line), up to and including the </Proxy>. Replace ports 8091-8094 below with the port
numbers you used above.
<Directory "${INSTALL_DIR}/www/upload/">
Require all granted
</Directory>
ProxyPass /portal balancer://mycluster stickysession=CV12SESSION
ProxyPassReverse /portal balancer://mycluster
ProxyPassReverseCookieDomain 127.0.0.1:8091 localhost
ProxyPassReverseCookieDomain 127.0.0.1:8092 localhost
ProxyPassReverseCookieDomain 127.0.0.1:8093 localhost
ProxyPassReverseCookieDomain 127.0.0.1:8094 localhost
ProxyPassReverseCookiePath / /portal
ProxyPreserveHost Off
ProxyTimeout 600
<Proxy balancer://mycluster>
BalancerMember http://127.0.0.1:8091 keepalive=On route=8091
BalancerMember http://127.0.0.1:8092 keepalive=On route=8092
BalancerMember http://127.0.0.1:8093 keepalive=On route=8093
BalancerMember http://127.0.0.1:8094 keepalive=On route=8094
</Proxy>
RedirectMatch 301 ^/$ https://${DOMAIN_NAME}/portal/
Start Up Apache
Open the WampServer "W" icon on your desktop. The icon in the bottom right of the Windows taskbar
should turn green. If it was already running, click the icon and select "Restart All Services".
If the icon is red or orange, a service didn't start. Go to the Windows Event Viewer and bring up
the application log to review the errors.
If you've resolved all your errors, you can now click on the WampServer "W" icon in the bottom right
of the Windows desktop, and choose "Restart All services".
If everything goes well it should go Red -> Orange -> Green and you can begin testing.
If it does not go green, go into C:/wamp64/logs/ and review the logs that were last written to, for
errors. Or go to the Windows Logs. Once you've fixed the errors, click the W, Restart All services
and when the W goes green, you can begin testing.
Check the Windows Application Log and look for Warnings. Typical issues are either misconfiguration
in the files or missing files like SSL certificates.
If you are not using the database part of Wamp, you can click the Wamp icon and remove the
services for MySQL and MariaDB. You can then right click the Wamp icon, go to Settings, then
uncheck Allow MySQL and MariaDB.
Multiple Domain Names
If you are using multiple domains (EX: client, dashboard, portal, api, etc.), you can create multiple
virtual hosts and SSL certificates for each domain.
C:\wamp64\bin\Apache\Apache2.4.#\conf\httpd.conf
Add more defines for other domains.
Define DOMAIN_NAME2 sub2.yourdomain.com
Define DOMAIN_NAME3 sub3.yourdomain.com
C:\wamp64\bin\Apache\Apache2.4.#\conf\extras\httpd-vhosts.conf
Copy and paste the below into the bottom of the file and update the DOMAIN_NAME variables.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName ${DOMAIN_NAME2}
ServerAlias ${DOMAIN_NAME2}
DocumentRoot "${INSTALL_DIR}/www"
<Directory "${INSTALL_DIR}/www/">
Options +Indexes +Includes +FollowSymLinks +MultiViews
AllowOverride All
Require local
</Directory>
<Directory "${INSTALL_DIR}/www/.well-known/">
Require all granted
</Directory>
<Directory "${INSTALL_DIR}/www/upload/">
Require all granted
</Directory>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} '!/.well-known/acme-challenge/'
RewriteRule ^ https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [END,NE,R=301]
</VirtualHost>
C:\wamp64\bin\Apache\Apache2.4.#\conf\extras\httpd-ssl.conf
Copy and paste the existing virtual host listening on 443 to the bottom of the file and update the
DOMAIN_NAME variables.
At this point, you can remove any line that starts with a comment (#) to clean it up.
If this virtual host is not connecting to load balancer, you can update to connect to a single port.
Below is the example for the Collect! API server.
<VirtualHost _default_:443>
# General setup for the virtual host
DocumentRoot "${SRVROOT}/htdocs"
ServerName ${DOMAIN_NAME2}:443
ServerAdmin admin@collect.org
ErrorLog "${SRVROOT}/logs/error.log"
TransferLog "${SRVROOT}/logs/access.log"
Header set X-Frame-Options sameorigin
Header set X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
Header set X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies "none"
Header set Referrer-Policy "no-referrer"
Header set Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy "same-origin"
Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload"
#restrict to specific IP addresses
<Location />
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
Allow from 1.2.3.4
Allow from 1.2.3.5
</Location>
# SSL Engine Switch:
# Enable/Disable SSL for this virtual host.
SSLEngine on
# Server Certificate:
SSLCertificateFile "F:/CollectClient/bin/api.yourdomain.com-crt.pem"
# Server Private Key:
SSLCertificateKeyFile "F:/CollectClient/bin/api.yourdomain.com-key.pem"
# Server Certificate Chain:
SSLCertificateChainFile "F:/CollectClient/bin/api.yourdomain.com-chain.pem"
<FilesMatch "\.(cgi|shtml|phtml|php)$">
SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
</FilesMatch>
<Directory "${SRVROOT}/cgi-bin">
SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
</Directory>
# SSL Protocol Adjustments:
BrowserMatch "MSIE [2-5]" \
nokeepalive ssl-unclean-shutdown \
downgrade-1.0 force-response-1.0
# Per-Server Logging:
CustomLog "${SRVROOT}/logs/ssl_request.log" \
"%t %h %{SSL_PROTOCOL}x %{SSL_CIPHER}x \"%r\" %b"
ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPass / http://localhost:40000/
ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:40000/
</VirtualHost>
Once saved, you can re-run the Let's Encrypt process to add more SSL certificates.
Update the SSL certificate values in the virtual host, then restart Wamp.
Upload Functionality In Web Host
The web host has an upload feature. If the above instructions are followed, then implementing is
simple.
- Navigate to the {database}\html folder.
- Copy the upload_file.php file.
- Navigate to the wamp64\www folder.
- Create a folder called upload.
- In the upload folder, paste the upload_file.php file.
- In the upload folder, create another folder called upload.
The end result should be wamp64\www\upload\upload
The first upload folder contains the PHP file. All files from the portal will be placed into the
second upload folder.
You can use a script to move or process the files in the document's upload folder.
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