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Mod_rewrite stands as a pivotal Apache module known for its robust URL manipulation capabilities. It empowers webmasters to rewrite URLs, a crucial feature widely utilized in content management systems such as WordPress. This module excels at transforming complex, dynamic URLs into cleaner, more user-friendly formats. By enhancing readability and structure, mod_rewrite contributes significantly to the overall user experience of websites. In this guide, we will delve into the essential steps for enabling mod_rewrite on an Apache Server running Ubuntu 18.04 VPS.
Prerequisites- Ubuntu 18.04 VPS
- A non-root user with sudo privileges
- Apache web server
Step 1: Enable mod_rewriteYou can enable any Apache module using the a2enmod command. So run the command below on your Ubuntu 18.04 server:
$ sudo a2enmod rewrite Your server is now ready to accept rewrite rules.
Step 2: Setup your server to accept .htaccess files- You can set up URL rewrite rules directly in Apache’s configuration file, but it’s better to use the `.htaccess` file for each website. Most CMSs rely on `.htaccess`, which is created by default during installation. To enable `.htaccess`, you must edit each website’s virtual host file and add the following code:
<Directory /var/www/html>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory> - For instance, you can edit the default virtual hosts that ships with Apache using a nano editor by typing the command below:
$ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf - Then copy paste the above text just before the ‘</VirtualHost>’ closing tag. Remember to save the file by pressing CTRL + X then Y and Enter
- Then, restart Apache for the changes to take effect:
$ sudo systemctl restart apache2 Step 3: Mod-rewrite syntaxThe basic Apache mod_rewrite syntax has the following parts:
RewriteRule pattern substitution [flags]
- RewriteRule – the directive of our rule.
- Pattern – this is a regex (Regular Expression) that matches what the user types in a browser.
- Substitution – The actual URL path that should be called by the Apache server.
- Flag – optional parameters that modify how the rules work.
Step 4: Create a sample .htaccess file- We will now create a sample ‘.htaccess’ file at the root of the default website to test mod_rewrite. To do this type the command below:
$ sudo nano /var/www/html/.htaccess - Every mod_rewrite rules must be with the commands ‘RewriteEngine on’. So you need to type this at the top of the file.
RewriteEngine on - Next, we are going to rewrite a rule that redirects users to a ‘contact_us.html’ page if they request the URL http://ipaddress/contact_us
- So we add the below rule:
RewriteRule ^contact_us$ contact_us.html [NC] - In the rule above, ‘contact_us’ is matched and redirected to ‘contact_us.html’. The ‘[NC]’ flag makes it case insensitive. ‘^’ matches text after the domain/IP, and ‘$’ signifies the end of the URL. The complete `.htaccess` file should look like this:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^contact_us$ contact_us.html [NC] - Save the file by pressing CTRL+ X, Y, and Enter.
- Next type the command below to create the contact_us.html page:
$ sudo nano /var/www/html/contact_us.html Then, paste the HTML text below on the file:
HTML
<html>
<head>
<title>Contact our website</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is a contact us page</h1>
</body>
</html>
- Save the file by pressing CTRL+ X, Y and Enter.
- Now if you visit the path http://ipaddress/contact_us on a browser, Apache should serve you with the page ‘contact_us.html’.
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