ansible-role-apache

Installs and configures Apache httpd on Debian and Ubuntu and on EL 8 and 9. The EL side comes from the separate httpd role of the old library, absorbed here.

Variable names

There is one namespace, apache_*. The absorbed role used httpd_* and those names are gone: a playbook that still sets them has no effect. The rename is mechanical, httpd_x becomes apache_x, with four exceptions:

old	new
httpd_main_packages	apache_packages
httpd_ssl_enabled	apache_ssl_modules_enabled
httpd_modules	see Modules below
httpd_additional_modules	see Modules below

Distribution differences live inside the defaults, the convention already used by ansible-role-postgresql, so every value stays a default and a playbook can still override it.

	deb	EL
packages	apache2, apache2-utils	httpd, httpd-tools
mod_ssl	part of apache2	separate package
service	apache2	httpd
config directory	/etc/apache2	/etc/httpd
user, group	www-data	apache
main config file	left to the package	fully templated

Configuration model

The two families do not configure Apache the same way, and the role does not pretend otherwise.

On deb the packaged apache2.conf is left alone: the role manages ports.conf, removes the default virtualhost and enables modules with a2enmod.

On EL the whole httpd.conf is templated, because that is where the tuning and the document root layout live. This is what the apache_timeout, apache_keepalive_*, apache_startservers, apache_maxclients, apache_min_spare, apache_max_spare, apache_threads_per_child, apache_serverlimit and apache_max_requests_per_child variables feed, and they have no effect on deb.

Modules

On deb, modules are enabled with apache2_module, from apache_default_modules, apache_additional_modules_list, apache_ssl_modules and apache_http_proxy_modules.

On EL none of that applies. The apache2_module Ansible module requires the a2enmod and a2dismod binaries, which the EL httpd package does not ship, so the httpd_modules list of the absorbed role could never be applied there. What EL needs is the MPM selection, written to conf.modules.d/00-mpm.conf from apache_mpm_mode, while the individual LoadModule lines come from the distribution’s own conf.modules.d. apache_el_extra_modules adds the ones the distribution does not load by default:

apache_el_extra_modules:
  - { identifier: 'jk_module', file: 'mod_jk.so' }

Handlers

apache2 reload and apache2 restart act on the right service on both families. httpd reload and httpd restart exist as well, with the same behaviour, for the roles that come from the absorbed one and notify those names.