Wednesday Why: The Apache Welcome Page

Wednesday, September 5. 2007

Posted by Chris Tyler in Wednesday Why at 00:01 | Comments (16) | Trackbacks (0)

Wednesday Why: The Apache Welcome Page

If you install the Apache web server on your Fedora system, start it, and then access it before adding any content, you'll see the "Fedora Test Page" or "Welcome Page" as shown here. Where does this page come from, where is it configured, and how does it disappear once you add content?

This page clearly isn't configured in the main Apache configuration file, /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf -- there is no mention of it there at all. Instead, the configuration for this page is actually specified in /etc/httpd/conf.d/welcome.conf, which looks like this:

#
# This configuration file enables the default "Welcome"
# page if there is no default index page present for
# the root URL. To disable the Welcome page, comment
# out all the lines below.
#
<LocationMatch "^/+$">
Options -Indexes
ErrorDocument 403 /error/noindex.html
</LocationMatch>

The LocationMatch directive ensures that this configuration applies only to requests with a path of / (or multiple slashes), which matches only requests to the DocumentRoot (http://ServerName/). For any such request, the Indexes option is disabled, so you cannot get an automatic index or directory listing. If a pre-built index page exists, such as index.html or index.html.var, that file is served; but if it doesn't exist, an HTTP 403 error is generated ("Forbidden"). The ErrorDocument directive specifies the page to be served in that case: /var/www/error/noindex.html. As soon as you create an index page, the 403 error is no longer generated, and the Welcome page disappears.

The configuration file /etc/httpd/conf.d/welcome.conf is owned by the httpd (Apache) package. Most of the other configuration files located in /etc/httpd/conf.d are owned by web application packages such as webalyzer, BackupPC, gallery2, or squirrelmail, and specifically configure Apache for that one application; removing the package removes the corresponding configuration file, removing the application-specific Apache configuration.

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What happened to my web site?

#1 Cynthia Collins (Homepage) on 2007-09-18 23:03 (Reply)

I have had this home page for 10 years
and this is the first time that no one has told me that my home page was being worked on and that it would be down for more than two days ;Who droped the ball?
Clyde V Antrim

#1.1 Clyde Vernon Antrim (Homepage) on 2008-08-21 16:57 (Reply)

Well, certainly no one here "dropped the ball". If you see the message described here, it's because your web server is not configured or misconfigured. Contact whoever runs your webserver.

#1.1.1 Chris Tyler on 2008-08-23 13:29 (Reply)

Why do I ahve your page instead od my page.

Hoe can I have my page back

#2 Jean Riopelle (Homepage) on 2007-10-05 18:30 (Reply)

If you're saying that you see the Apache Welcome Page on your webserver instead of your content, then it indicates that your index.html file in your DocumentRoot has been deleted or renamed. As soon as you put the index.html page back, the welcome page will disappear.

#2.1 Chris Tyler on 2007-10-05 18:34 (Reply)

I'm not computer savvy at all. How do I put the index.html page back?

#2.1.1 Cheryl in Austin (Homepage) on 2007-10-11 23:29 (Reply)

You need to find a copy of the index.html file that you were using before, or you need to create a new one. Save it in the DocumentRoot directory (folder), which will probably be /var/www/html

#2.1.1.1 Chris Tyler on 2007-10-11 23:44 (Reply)

This doesn't make sense. I've had had other users g to my site and it loads properly, but if I try to load the site from my computer I get the Fedora page. It's driving me friggin batty!

#2.1.2 Robert Rapier (Homepage) on 2008-07-30 14:38 (Reply)

Sounds like a DNS problem. Use "nslookup" or "dig" or "host" to check that the same IP address is being used on both the local and remote machine. If not, check the /etc/hosts file and DNS configuration.

#2.1.2.1 Chris Tyler on 2008-07-30 14:44 (Reply)

Forgive my ignorance, but I'm not sure I follow you? Could it be that my home computer has the wrong IP address for the site? If so how do I rectify that? The DNS configuration has been double checked and appears to be in order.

#2.1.2.1.1 Robert Rapier (Homepage) on 2008-07-30 15:09 (Reply)

thanks... helped a lot

#3 Xsite (Homepage) on 2007-12-23 13:37 (Reply)

How can I save the index.html file to the DocumentRoot directory? Do I need To upload the site? Would you be so kind provide us the step by step process?

#4 Cherry (Homepage) on 2008-02-17 20:04 (Reply)

It will depend entirely on how your system is set up. In the simplest case, you'll need to put the index.html in /var/www/html -- if you're local (sitting in front of the computer), just copy it there (cp index.html /var/www/html), or if you're accessing remotely, use a tool such as scp to place the file there.

#4.1 Chris Tyler on 2008-02-17 20:10 (Reply)

Im not computor savvy,but your entering my computor without permiisson seems grounds for a classaction lawsuit.

#5 Michael Scott on 2008-04-17 09:07 (Reply)

The Apache Welcome Page doesn't indicate that anyone has entered anyone's computer. If you see that page where you expect to see your website, it simply means that your website is misconfigured or has not yet been loaded with content.

Think of the Apache Welcome Page as an error message which means "There is no index.html page here yet". As soon as you add the index.html document, the Welcome page will disappear.

#5.1 Chris Tyler on 2008-04-17 09:17 (Reply)

Are you people serious?? The welcome screen is part of Apache which is what is running your server... every time you see the windows startup screen do you threaten to sue Bill Gates for being on your computer, haha. I would suggest you sell your computer and buy an etch-a-sketch..

#5.2 Todd on 2008-07-18 21:14 (Reply)

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