What is simplest way to add domain name to a Debian server? - apache

Question

I have the latest brand new Debian server. The website should host only 1 single domain name.
DNS are resolved by the registrar and A points to my dedicated server. Site is present in /var/www/.
What is the simplest way (step by step) to configure Apache to add this domain name?

Answer 1

It should be very straighforward:
Install Apache (sudo aptitude install apache2)
The default configuration points to /var/www so...
Start Apache (sudo service apache2 restart)
Enjoy your website
You can add your domain name into /etc/hosts
Take some steps to secure your dedicated server (iptables, fail2ban, ...)
You could also use the automatic wizard with sudo dpkg-reconfigure apache2.
I think this should be enough if you DNS is already pointing at your IP.
If you really need to change the configuration file, it's in etc/apache2/sites-available/default and contains the following (by default):
NameVirtualHost *
<VirtualHost *>
ServerAdmin webmaster#localhost # <= Email of webadmin (shown on error pages)
DocumentRoot /var/www/ # <= Root of your web server with public access
<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None # <= Disable usage of .htaccess files
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
# This directive allows us to have apache2's default start page
# in /apache2-default/, but still have / go to the right place
#RedirectMatch ^/$ /apache2-default/
</Directory>
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
<Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin">
AllowOverride None
Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log
# Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
# alert, emerg.
LogLevel warn
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
ServerSignature On
Alias /doc/ "/usr/share/doc/"
<Directory "/usr/share/doc/">
Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
Allow from 127.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 ::1/128
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
As for the hosts file, you can add the following:
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1 localhost
#Virtual Hosts
12.34.56.789 example.com #<= change here :)
Then, don't forget to secure your web server with appropriate tools (iptables, fail2ban, ...)