How to Install and Configure Lighttpd on Rocky Linux

In this tutorial, we will go through the process of how to install and configure Lighttpd, a lightweight, high-performance, and easy-to-configure web server, on Rocky Linux. Lighttpd is an excellent choice for hosting small to medium-sized websites and is known for its low resource consumption and impressive speed. Let’s dive in!

How to Install and Configure Lighttpd on Rocky Linux

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure that you have:

A Rocky Linux system up and running
Root or sudo access to the system
Basic knowledge of Linux commands

Install Lighttpd on Rocky Linux

To begin, we need to install the Lighttpd package. First, update your system packages by running the following command:

sudo dnf update -y

Next, install Lighttpd using the following command:

sudo dnf install lighttpd -y

Start and Enable Lighttpd Service on Rocky Linux

Once Lighttpd is installed, start the service and enable it to run at system startup:

sudo systemctl start lighttpd
sudo systemctl enable lighttpd

You can check the status of the service by running:

sudo systemctl status lighttpd

Configure Firewall on Rocky Linux

To allow incoming connections to the web server, you need to configure the firewall. Add the HTTP and HTTPS services to the firewall by executing the following commands:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Test Lighttpd Web Server on Rocky Linux

At this point, Lighttpd should be up and running. Open your favorite web browser and visit http://your_server_IP_address. You should see the Lighttpd welcome page, which confirms that the installation and configuration were successful.

Configure Lighttpd on Rocky Linux

The default configuration file for Lighttpd is located at /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf. You can open this file using your preferred text editor, such as nano or vim. In this example, we will use nano:

sudo nano /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

Here are some common settings you might want to configure:

Enable Compression

To enable compression, uncomment the following lines:

# compress.filetype           = ("text/plain", "text/html", "application/x-javascript", "text/css")
# compress.cache-dir          = "/var/cache/lighttpd/compress/"

Configure Lighttpd Virtual Hosts on Rocky Linux

To set up virtual hosts, create a new file called vhosts.conf in the /etc/lighttpd directory:

sudo nano /etc/lighttpd/vhosts.conf

Add the following configuration, replacing example.com with your domain name:

$HTTP["host"] == "example.com" {
    server.document-root = "/var/www/example.com"
    accesslog.filename = "/var/log/lighttpd/example.com_access.log"
    errorlog.filename = "/var/log/lighttpd/example.com_error.log"
}

Save and exit the file. Next, create the required directories and set the proper permissions:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com
sudo chown -R lighttpd:lighttpd /var/www/example.com

Finally, include the vhosts.conf file in the main lighttpd.conf configuration file. To do this, open the lighttpd.conf file with your preferred text editor:

sudo nano /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

Add the following line at the end of the file:

include "vhosts.conf"

Save and close the file.

Test the configuration and restart Lighttpd

Before restarting Lighttpd, it’s crucial to ensure that the configuration files have no errors. You can do this by running the following command:

sudo lighttpd -t -f /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

If there are no errors, you should see the following output:

Syntax OK

Now, restart Lighttpd to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart lighttpd

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully configured Lighttpd on Rocky Linux. You can now start serving your web applications using this lightweight and efficient web server.

If you want to learn more about other web servers and tools, don’t forget to check out our other guides:

Remember that the key to a successful server configuration is understanding the tools you are using and following best practices. We hope this guide has helped you configure Lighttpd on Rocky Linux and provided you with useful resources to continue your Linux journey.