Linux Server Configuration

Multiview - Support content-negotiated multiviews; this option is disabled by default for security reasons.

SymLinksIfOwnerMatch - Only follow symbolic links if the target file or directory has the same owner as the link.

12.5 httpd Settings

This section explains some basic httpd daemon configuration settings.
LockFile - The LockFile directive sets the path to the lockfile used when the server is compiled with either USE_FCNTL_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT or USE_FLOCK_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT. It must be stored on the local disk. It should be left to the default value unless the logs directory is located on an NFS share. If this is the case, the default value should be changed to a location on the local disk and to a directory that is readable only by root.
PidFile - The PidFile directive sets the file in which the server records its process ID (pid). This file should only be readable by root. In most cases, it should be left to the default value.
User - The User directive sets the userid used by the server to answer requests. This setting determines the server's access. Any files inaccessible to this user will also be inaccessible to your website's visitors. The default value for User is www-data.
Unless you know exactly what you are doing, do not set the User directive to root. Using root as the User will create large security holes for your Web server.
The Group directive is similar to the User directive. Group sets the group under which the server will answer requests. The default group is also www-data.

Apache Modules

Apache is a modular server. This implies that only the most basic functionality is included in the core server. Extended features are available through modules which can be loaded into Apache. By default, a base set of modules is included in the server at compile-time. If the server is compiled to use dynamically loaded modules, then modules can be compiled separately, and added at any time using the LoadModule directive. Otherwise, Apache must be recompiled to add or remove modules.
Ubuntu compiles Apache2 to allow the dynamic loading of modules. Configuration directives may be conditionally included on the presence of a particular module by enclosing them in an block.
You can install additional Apache2 modules and use them with your Web server. For example, run the following command from a terminal prompt to install the MySQL Authentication module: