Apache Cookbook

Chapter 12. Miscellaneous Topics

With its hundreds of configuration directives, and dozens upon dozens of modules providing additional functionality, the Apache web server can be terrifically complex. So too can the questions about how to use it. We have collected many of the most common questions we have seen and categorized them, putting related topics into their own chapters when there were enough of them.

However, some of the things that come up don’t fall readily into one of the categories we have chosen, or perhaps are more fundamental and we’ve collected them into this catch-all chapter of “things that don’t belong anywhere else.”

12.1. Placing Directives Properly

Problem

You know what directive you need but aren’t sure where to put it.

Solution

If you wish the scope of the directive to be global (i.e., you want it to affect all requests to the web server), then it should be put in the main body of the configuration file or it should be put in the section starting with the line <Directory /> and ending with </Directory>.

If you wish the directive to affect only a particular directory, it should be put in a <Directory> section that specifies that directory. Be aware that directives specified in this manner also affect subdirectories of the stated directory.

Likewise, if you wish the directive to affect a particular virtual host or a particular set of URLs, then the directive should be put in a <VirtualHost> section, <Location> section, or perhaps a <Files> section, referring to ...