The Server tab allows you to configure
basic server settings. The default settings for these options are
appropriate for most situations.
The Lock File value corresponds to the
LockFile directive. This
directive sets the path to the lockfile used when the server is
compiled with either USE_FCNTL_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT or
USE_FLOCK_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT. It must be stored on the local disk.
It should be left to the default value unless the logs directory is located on an NFS share. If this
is the case, the default value should be changed to a location on
the local disk and to a directory that is readable only by
root.
The PID File value corresponds to the
PidFile directive. This
directive sets the file in which the server records its process ID
(pid). This file should only be readable by root. In most cases, it
should be left to the default value.
The Core Dump Directory value
corresponds to the CoreDumpDirectory
directive. The Apache HTTP Server tries to switch to this directory
before executing a core dump. The default value is the ServerRoot. However, if the user that the server
runs as can not write to this directory, the core dump can not be
written. Change this value to a directory writable by the user the
server runs as, if you want to write the core dumps to disk for
debugging purposes.
The User value corresponds to the
User directive. It sets
the userid used by the server to answer requests. This user's
settings determine the server's access. Any files inaccessible to
this user are also inaccessible to your website's visitors. The
default for User is apache.
The user should only have privileges so that it can access files
which are supposed to be visible to the outside world. The user is
also the owner of any CGI processes spawned by the server. The user
should not be allowed to execute any code which is not intended to
be in response to HTTP requests.
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Warning |
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Unless you know exactly what you are doing, do not set the
User directive to root. Using root as the
User creates large security holes for your
Web server.
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The parent httpd process first runs as
root during normal operations, but is then immediately handed off
to the apache user. The server must start as root because it needs
to bind to a port below 1024. Ports below 1024 are reserved for
system use, so they can not be used by anyone but root. Once the
server has attached itself to its port, however, it hands the
process off to the apache user before it accepts any connection
requests.
The Group value corresponds to the
Group directive. The
Group directive is similar to the
User directive. Group sets the group under which the server answers
requests. The default group is also apache.
