How To Install Apache Web Server on Debian 11

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Apache Web Server on Debian 11. For those of you who didn’t know, Apache is an extensively used open-source web server also referred to as an Apache HTTP server. It is a free cross-platform web server that is supported on various operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS, and many more. Developers prefer Apache for its speed, security, reliability, robustness, and ease of customization. In addition, Apache is able to meet the needs of many environments as it allows the installation of various extensions and modules.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the Apache Web Server on a Debian 11 (Bullseye).

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Debian 11 (Bullseye).
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install Apache Web Server on Debian 11 Bullseye

Step 1. Before we install any software, it’s important to make sure your system is up to date by running the following apt commands in the terminal:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Step 2. Installing Apache Web Server on Debian 11.

Now we install Apache Web Server on the Debian system by running the following command below:

sudo apt install apache2 apache2-utils

Confirm Apache build and version:

apache2 -v

Before starting the configurations, make sure that Apache services are running on your system. Run the following command to check the apache services status:

sudo systemctl status apache2
sudo systemctl start apache2
sudo systemctl enable apache2

Apache HTTP server’s default document root is /var/www/html/ where you will place HTML files, and the main configuration file is /etc/apache2/apache2.conf. Additional configuration files are found in the /etc/apache2 directory.

Step 3. Configure Firewall.

Allow access to port 80 on the firewall by running the below-given command:

sudo ufw allow 80
sudo ufw allow 443
sudo ufw enable

Step 4. Accessing Apache Web Server.

Once successfully installed, you should be able to view the test Apache web page through your web browser.

http://your-server-ip-address

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Apache. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the latest version of Apache Web Server on Debian 11 Bullseye. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Apache website.