How to configure Apache rewrite rule-based request URL on Ubuntu 22.04

To Configure Apache Rewrite Rule Based Request URL On Ubuntu 22.04

Intoduction

The Apache HTTP Server, frequently referred to as Apache, is a highly effective and versatile web server software utilized for delivering web content. A key feature of Apache is its capability to manage URLs and handle requests through rewrite rules facilitated by the mod_rewrite module. This module provides a powerful means to dynamically alter request URLs based on defined patterns, resulting in cleaner URLs, an enhanced user experience, and improved search engine optimization (SEO).

Procedure:

Step – 1: Check the OS version

root@linuxhelp:~# lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS
Release:	22.04
Codename:	jammy

Step – 2: Check the status of the Apache2 service by using the following command

root@linuxhelp:~# systemctl status apache2
● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2024-09-11 04:27:08 IST; 9min ago
       Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
   Main PID: 2826 (apache2)
      Tasks: 55 (limit: 4556)
     Memory: 5.3M
        CPU: 87ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
             ├─2826 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─2831 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             └─2832 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
Sep 11 04:27:08 linuxhelp systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Server...
Sep 11 04:27:08 linuxhelp apachectl[2822]: AH00558: apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1>
Sep 11 04:27:08 linuxhelp systemd[1]: Started The Apache HTTP Server.

Step – 3: Change directory to Apache document root directory

root@linuxhelp:~# cd /var/www/

Step – 4: List the directory

root@linuxhelp:/var/www# ll
total 12
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root 4096 Sep 11 04:27 ./
drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 4096 Sep 11 04:27 ../
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 4096 Sep 11 04:27 html/

Step – 5: Now create two directories

root@linuxhelp:/var/www# mkdir old-page
root@linuxhelp:/var/www# mkdir new-page

Step – 6: Then create one HTML file in each directories

root@linuxhelp:/var/www# touch old-page/old.html
root@linuxhelp:/var/www# touch new-page/new.html

Step – 7: Add some text to the each files.

root@linuxhelp:/var/www# echo "Old HTML File" >> old-page/old.html 
root@linuxhelp:/var/www# echo "New HTML File" >> new-page/new.html 

Step – 8: Now open default virtual host file and change the path

root@linuxhelp:/var/www# vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf 
DocumentRoot /var/www/
<Directory /var/www/>
		AllowOverride All
		Require all granted
	</Directory>

Step – 9: Restart the Apache2 service by using following command

root@linuxhelp:/var/www# systemctl restart apache2

Step – 10: Open the browser and search the IP with old file path

Step – 11: Now again go to the terminal and create .htaccess file to create rewrite rule by using following command.

root@linuxhelp:/var/www# vim .htaccess
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^old-page/(.*)$ /var/www/new-page/$1 [L]

Step – 12: Enable Apache rewrite module by using following command.

root@linuxhelp:/var/www# a2enmod rewrite
Enabling module rewrite.
To activate the new configuration, you need to run:
  systemctl restart apache2

root@linuxhelp:/var/www# systemctl restart apache2