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Topics Covered

NOT EXECUTED Linux (Apache directly) Windows (XAMPP/WAMP) The configuration worth understanding Enabling TLS The comparison that ends the experiment
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  1. NOT EXECUTED
  2. Linux (Apache directly)
  3. Windows (XAMPP/WAMP)
  4. The configuration worth understanding
  5. Enabling TLS
  6. The comparison that ends the experiment

NOT EXECUTED

This repository has no cloud account, and none will be created. Creating one requires a payment card and accepts a billing relationship, which is not something a study repository should do on anyone's behalf.

So this file is what you type, with the traps marked. It has never been run here, and nothing in the notes claims an output for it.

The runnable half is 01_vm_and_hosting.py, which really does serve a page over TCP and fetch it back.

Linux (Apache directly)

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y apache2
sudo systemctl enable --now apache2
systemctl status apache2

sudo tee /var/www/html/index.html >/dev/null <<'EOF'
<!doctype html>
<title>Sales dashboard</title>
<h1>Retail sales</h1>
EOF

curl -I http://localhost/          # 200, and check the Content-Type

From the HOST machine, using the guest's IP from experiment 1:

http://192.168.x.x/

If that times out, work through in this order:

  1. sudo ufw allow 80/tcp — the guest firewall

  2. the network mode: NAT means the LAN cannot reach the guest (see experiment 1). Switch to Bridged, or forward a port.

  3. sudo ss -tlnp | grep :80 — is Apache bound to 0.0.0.0 or only to 127.0.0.1?

Windows (XAMPP/WAMP)

Install XAMPP, start Apache from the control panel, put the page in C:\xampp\htdocs\, browse to http://localhost/.

Apache will not start almost always because port 80 is taken — by IIS, by Skype (historically), or by another web server. Change Listen 80 to Listen 8080 in httpd.conf and browse to http://localhost:8080/.

The configuration worth understanding

Directive Where What it does
DocumentRoot apache2.conf / httpd.conf which directory is served
Listen ports.conf which port
<VirtualHost> sites-available/ several sites on one IP, by hostname
DirectoryIndex apache2.conf which file / serves
AddType mime.types the Content-Type header

AddType is the one that bites. A browser renders your page because the server said text/html. Serve it as text/plain and the browser shows source; serve it as application/octet-stream and the browser downloads it. The runnable half asserts this header for exactly that reason.

Enabling TLS

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-apache
sudo certbot --apache -d example.com     # needs a real domain pointing here

You cannot get a certificate for 192.168.1.50. Certificate authorities issue for names they can validate, so a VM on your LAN gets a self-signed certificate and a browser warning — which is the correct behaviour, not a bug.

The comparison that ends the experiment

This VM S3 + CloudFront
Patch Apache you, monthly not your problem
TLS certificate certbot, and renewals issued and rotated
Survives your laptop closing no yes
Handles a traffic spike no yes
Cost for a static page a VM, hourly cents per GB

A static site on a VM is a general-purpose computer doing an object store's job. That is the point the experiment makes by having you do it the hard way once.

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