Basic HTML Page & Basic Web Server SEC‐260 - aljimenez28/champlain GitHub Wiki

Objective

The objective of this lab was to verify network connectivity on a Rocky Linux virtual machine, install and run an Apache web server, and confirm successful content delivery by serving both the default Apache page and a custom HTML page.

Key Topics Covered

Virtual machine network configuration
Apache (httpd) installation and service management
Linux file navigation and basic HTML
Firewall configuration for HTTP traffic

Important Commands

ip addr
Displays the system’s network interfaces and assigned IP addresses.
ping -c1 google.com
Sends a single network request to confirm internet connectivity.
dnf install -y httpd
Installs the Apache web server package using the DNF package manager.
systemctl start httpd
Starts the Apache web server service.
firewall-cmd --add-port=80/tcp
Opens TCP port 80 to allow HTTP traffic through the firewall.
cd /var/www/html
Navigates to Apache’s default web document root directory.
vi index.html
Opens or creates the main web page file for editing.
lynx http://<server-ip>
Uses a text-based web browser to confirm the web server is serving content.

Challenge Faced

The virtual machine initially failed to obtain an IPv4 address, which prevented internet access and Apache installation. The issue was caused by the network adapter being bridged to a LAN network from a different class instead of the correct WAN network.

Resolution

After correcting the network bridge and rebooting the VM, the system successfully obtained an IP address and Apache functioned as expected.

Verification

Apache was verified using both the default test page and a custom index.html file. The web page successfully loaded via a browser using the server IP address.

Conclusion

This lab confirmed a working Apache installation on Rocky Linux and reinforced the importance of proper VM networking and basic Linux command line skills.