Prerequisites for monitoring apache server metrics

Prerequisites for monitoring apache server metrics

The Apache mod_status module enables users to view detailed performance metrics of the Apache web server. You must enable and configure the mod_status correctly in the Apache configuration file to get performance metrics from Apache and view the data in Applications Manager.

Perform the following steps in the Apache configuration file to enable and configure the status module and get the performance metrics: 

1. Enable the mod_status:

  1. Open the Apache configuration file. Depending on your OS, the Apache configuration file will be located at one of the following locations:

/etc/apache2/httpd.conf (Ubuntu, Debian, openSUSE)

/etc/apache2/apache2.conf (Ubuntu, Debian, openSUSE)

/etc/httpd/httpd.conf (Red Hat)

/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf (CentOS, Fedora)

  1. In the same file, for example the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file, search for the following line:

#LoadModule status_module modules/mod_status.so

  1. Uncomment the line mentioned above by removing #:

LoadModule status_module modules/mod_status.so 


2. Configure the mod_status:

  1. In the same Apache configuration file, search for the following code block:

# Allow server status reports generated by mod_status,

# with the URL of http://servername/server-status

# Change the ".example.com" to match your domain to enable.

#

#<location server-status="">

#    SetHandler server-status

#    Order deny,allow

#    Deny from all

#    Allow from .example.com

#</location>

  1. Uncomment the location block by removing # from the lines, and update the Allow, Order, and Deny directives as shown below:

<Location /server-status>

SetHandler server-status

Order allow,deny

Deny from all

Allow from all

</Location>

Notes

Notes:

1. The above configuration is for the default Apache configuration. To change the Apache stats URL, you can modify the Location tag in the above configuration.
2. The above configuration will open the /server-status handler with no restrictions. To restrict access only to the Applications Manager, make the following changes to the configuration:

<Location /server-status>
SetHandler server-status
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
Required host <hostname_of_apm_installed_machine>
Required ip <ip_of_apm_installed_machine>
</Location>

3. Above configuration does not work for virtual hosts. If you have virtual hosts configured, place the location block as shown below inside the VirtualHost block:


<VirtualHost *:80>

 …

<Location /server-status>

SetHandler server-status

Order allow,deny

Deny from all

Allow from example.com

 </Location>

…

</VirtualHost>


3. Enable Extended-Status:

  1. In the same file, for example the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file, search for the following line:

#ExtendedStatus On

  1. Uncomment the line mentioned above by removing #

ExtendedStatus On

4. Service restart:

  1. Restart the Apache server to apply the changes. 

5. Access Apache stats page:

  1. Verify if the Apache stats URL(http://localhost:80/server-status) is accessible.

Info
The URL will differ based on your Apache configuration.