Question

How do you configure htaccess or apache2 to use mod_rewrite?

Asked by: fun_g

I have just finished installing Ubuntu 9.04 on a local computer for website testing. I have been weeding through all of the configurations and have gotten the server working pretty well. My newest issue is when transferring a site from an external server (DB + files) I am having a "500 Internal Server Error". I have found that if I remove the .htaccess file everything works but the URL's are back to numbers and slashes. Is this an error with mod_rewrite or .htaccess? How can I reconfigure? This seems like it could easily be a server configuration issue.

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Asked On
2009-09-08 at 12:36:40ID24715983
Tags

apache2

,

ubuntu

,

php

,

htaccess

Topics

Apache Web Server

,

Web Servers

,

Linux

,

Ubuntu

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
14

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Answers

 

by: yfastudPosted on 2009-09-08 at 18:20:13ID: 25287573

open file httpd.conf and remove comment # in front of rewrite module to enable it, save file and restart apache

LoadModule rewrite_module

however, if you still have problem, you might want to post content of .htaccess file

 

by: fun_gPosted on 2009-09-08 at 18:43:14ID: 25287681

Thank you for your answer yfastud,
The httpd.conf located in /etc/init.d/apache2 was empty. I am pretty sure that in this case apache2.conf has taken over so I checked there. I was not finding it in that huge file so I went about adding the line (LoadModule rewrite_module) to httpd.conf which failed with

apache2: Syntax error on line 189 of /etc/apache2/apache2.conf: Syntax error on line 1 of /etc/apache2/httpd.conf: LoadModule takes two arguments, a module name and the name of a shared object file to load it from
  ...fail!

I proceeded by adding LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so to complete the line and hopefully alleviate the error. Apache loaded but says

* Reloading web server config apache2                                          [Tue Sep 08 21:31:28 2009] [warn] module rewrite_module is already loaded, skipping

So the rewrite module is loaded in the apache2.conf and I overlooked it. So I am attaching the .htaccess file.
Thank you for your time in this.

##
# @version $Id: htaccess.txt 10492 2008-07-02 06:38:28Z ircmaxell $
# @package Joomla
# @copyright Copyright (C) 2005 - 2008 Open Source Matters. All rights reserved.
# @license http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU/GPL
# Joomla! is Free Software
##
 
 
#####################################################
#  READ THIS COMPLETELY IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE THIS FILE
#
# The line just below this section: 'Options +FollowSymLinks' may cause problems
# with some server configurations.  It is required for use of mod_rewrite, but may already
# be set by your server administrator in a way that dissallows changing it in
# your .htaccess file.  If using it causes your server to error out, comment it out (add # to
# beginning of line), reload your site in your browser and test your sef url's.  If they work,
# it has been set by your server administrator and you do not need it set here.
#
#####################################################
 
##  Can be commented out if causes errors, see notes above.
Options +FollowSymLinks
 
#
#  mod_rewrite in use
 
RewriteEngine On
 
########## Begin - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits
## If you experience problems on your site block out the operations listed below
## This attempts to block the most common type of exploit `attempts` to Joomla!
#
# Block out any script trying to set a mosConfig value through the URL
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} mosConfig_[a-zA-Z_]{1,21}(=|\%3D) [OR]
# Block out any script trying to base64_encode crap to send via URL
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} base64_encode.*\(.*\) [OR]
# Block out any script that includes a <script> tag in URL
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (\<|%3C).*script.*(\>|%3E) [NC,OR]
# Block out any script trying to set a PHP GLOBALS variable via URL
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR]
# Block out any script trying to modify a _REQUEST variable via URL
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2})
# Send all blocked request to homepage with 403 Forbidden error!
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php [F,L]
#
########## End - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits
 
#  Uncomment following line if your webserver's URL
#  is not directly related to physical file paths.
#  Update Your Joomla! Directory (just / for root)
 
# RewriteBase /
 
 
########## Begin - Joomla! core SEF Section
#
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/|\.php|\.html|\.htm|\.feed|\.pdf|\.raw|/[^.]*)$  [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) index.php
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization},L]
#
########## End - Joomla! core SEF Section
                                              
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by: fun_gPosted on 2009-09-10 at 13:42:08ID: 25304095

Ther are not any errors showing up in /var/log/apache2/error.log If there were errors than I think I mi9ght be able to find a good solution. Also I have commented out all lines in the htaccess file which brings me back to a perfectly functioning website minus the SEO links. When I bring back just the RewriteEngine On the site starts to fail once again. Please Help!!!

 

by: caterham_wwwPosted on 2009-09-13 at 05:49:56ID: 25319966

> I am having a "500 Internal Server Error".

Check your error_log. Try to remove this line:

##  Can be commented out if causes errors, see notes above.
Options +FollowSymLinks

 

by: caterham_wwwPosted on 2009-09-13 at 05:52:06ID: 25319971

> Ther are not any errors showing up in

May be there are other logs per virtual host? In general prior issuing an internal server error, apache logs something in nearly every case, esp. for configuration issues.

 

by: ahoffmannPosted on 2009-09-13 at 08:42:41ID: 25320605

mod_rewrite has nothing to do with .htaccess
the only mandatory directive to enable .htaccess usage is  AllowOverride, see
  http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/howto/htaccess.html

If you get a 500 error *and* can prove (check your logs) that .htaccess is the reason, then it's most likely a permission problem or the configured (passwd,group) files are not accessable.

 

by: fun_gPosted on 2009-09-13 at 14:11:32ID: 25321745

I have found the error log here:/var/log/ispconfig/httpd/committo42.loc/error.log

The error that it is showing:[client 192.168.33.3] /var/www/committo42.loc/web/.htaccess: RewriteEngine not allowed here

I did not mention this before but I am using ISPConfig 3.0.1.1. It has been shown that many are dealing with this exact issue and it is referenced here http://www.howtoforge.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33805&page=4, Only I have tried these fixes and I am still not resolving the issue.

I will continue working on this and documenting for others who my come up against this issue.

 

by: ahoffmannPosted on 2009-09-14 at 00:24:09ID: 25323365

your apache is not configured to allow mod_rewrite inside .htaccess, obviously
you need to change your httpd.conf (see my previous link)

 

by: fun_gPosted on 2009-09-14 at 09:47:46ID: 25327181

My httpd.conf located in /etc/apache2/httpd.conf contained no code. So in some of my searching I have seen that using ISPConfig3 can override the httpd.conf file and use ispconfig.conf. using locate I found these files. None seemed to really have anything to effect the httpd.conf setup for my sites.

/etc/apache2/sites-available/ispconfig.conf
/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-ispconfig.conf
/usr/local/ispconfig/server/conf/apache_ispconfig.conf.master

I have attached the code very similar in the three files. Where is the conf file?

################################################
# ISPConfig Logfile configuration for vlogger
################################################
 
LogFormat "%v %h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" combined_ispconfig
CustomLog "| /usr/sbin/vlogger -s access.log -t \"%Y%m%d-access.log\" /var/log/ispconfig/httpd" combined_ispconfig
 
<Directory /var/www/clients>
        Options FollowSymlinks
        Allowoverride All
        Order Allow,Deny
        Allow from All
</Directory>
                                              
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by: ahoffmannPosted on 2009-09-14 at 12:22:47ID: 25328427

use reliable programs for real-time inspection of your system: ps and lsof
they should tell you which httpd (apache) is using which configuration file.
Then check these configuration files please.

 

by: fun_gPosted on 2009-09-16 at 12:26:05ID: 25349141

ahoffmann,
Thank you very much for your help with this issue. I was able to use both of those tools (a great learning experience) and find that the string of files that were created and those that were updated by ISPConfig led to the vhost file. The server is now working. Thank you very much.

 

by: fun_gPosted on 2009-09-16 at 12:29:21ID: 31626271

Thank you for sticking thought this with me. I am by myself and super overworked (my excuse for super time delays). I am starting to feel more comfortable in Ubuntu. Thank you!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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