Using apache2-mpm-itk on Debian Lenny for Virtual Hosting

Last Updated on Tuesday, 09 March 2010 16:06 Written by Joe Aldeguer Tuesday, 09 March 2010 13:39

I had problems trying to make suPHP work on my Debian Lenny server. I have tried re-tried different ways to make it work but all failed. Searching for alternatives on the web I came across this article on how to run vhosts using UID/GID of the web site owner. If a package is available on Ubuntu there is a very good chance it is also available on the Debian software repositories.

Disclaimer: There is no guarantee this will work for you. Created for author's personal use.

Words in italic to be type at the shell prompt.

apt-get update

I like to simulate the installation first.

apt-get install apache2-mpm-itk -s

This will indicate what packages will get installed or removed.

apache2 apache2-mpm-prefork will be removed.

I'm fine with that so now I can procceed with the actual installation.

apt-get install apache2-mpm-itk

After installing the package I now need to add these three lines into my virtual host configuration. I'm using Virtualmin GPL to manage my virtual web sites.

Going into /etc/apache2/sites-available then choosing the virtual host to run using mpm-itk. In this example I have a virtual site called moved.joealdeguer.com opening this with vi or Webmin's file manager I will add these three lines into the configuration file near the bottom just before </VirtualHost> tag. Using the web site owner's username and group as the values for AssignUserID.

<IfModule mpm_itk_module>
AssignUserId joealdeguer joealdeguer
</IfModule>
</VirtualHost>

I want to be able to add these three lines automatically each time I create a new Virtual website using Virtualmin. To do this I went into Virtualmin Virtual Servers (GPL) under the Server menu. Click on the icon Server Templates.

Then click Create a Template from the default settings. I'll give the new template a name which I will call MPM-ITK Enabled, then click create.

Now that I have a template I will now add the necessarry variables Virtualmin requires to be able to add username/group of the web site owner as well as the mpm-itk configuration lines. Clicking on the new MPM-ITK template I just created then choosing the apache website section.