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Nginx + Apache ​

This is a guide to set up Nginx and Apache web servers to run at the same time for developer environment.

💡 WARNING

This way your system will only listen to requests from your own machine. There will be no response to neither LAN nor internet requests.

Prerequisites ​

  • Debian-based linux system
  • Installed Nginx and Apache

Setup ​

hosts ​

Set hostnames mapping to the hosts file:

bash
sudo nano /etc/hosts

Add these lines:

text
127.0.0.1 nginx
127.0.0.2 apache

Nginx ​

Update Nginx to listen to its mapped hostname:

bash
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Replace default lines:

nginx
server {
    listen 80 default_server; 
    listen [::]:80 default_server; 
    listen nginx:80; 
    ...
}

Restart Nginx service:

bash
sudo service nginx restart

Apache ​

Update Apache to listen to its mapped hostname:

bash
sudo nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf

Replace default lines:

apache
Listen 80
Listen apache:80

Listen 443
Listen apache:443

Update default virtual host:

bash
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

Replace default lines:

apache
<VirtualHost *:80>
<VirtualHost apache:80>

Restart Apache service:

bash
sudo service apache2 restart

How to use ​

For new or existing configuration files just prepend needed hostname before port:

nginx
server {
    listen nginx:80;
    ...
}

server {
    listen nginx:443 ssl http2;
    ...
}

And for Apache:

apache
<VirtualHost apache:80>
    ...
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost apache:443>
    ...
</VirtualHost>

When adding domain in /etc/hosts file specify mapped local IP address:

text
127.0.0.1 example1.lan # nginx
127.0.0.2 example2.lan # apache

What it solves ​

Using this approach you have both services working at the same time with no additional ports required.

This way you can use needed web server for different projects to replicate production environments more precisely.

Suitable when Docker is not an option.

Understanding ​

This works by creating some sort of local proxy domains - aliases - for Nginx and Apache services.

Your project domain pointed to mapped local IP address will be handled by web server mapped to this IP address, as it listens to it by alias.

Copyright © Vladyslav Chychuzhko