Change the DocumentRoot of Apache webserver (/var/www) in Debian / Ubuntu

The document root (also called as the web root) of the Apache web server is located at the /var/www directory by default. Document root is the place where we find all the web pages and server scripts. These files are loaded on the browsers when we type in a particular url to point to that server. 

The /var/www directory doesn't allow access for a user who doesn't have the root permission. It's a headache task to switch to the root mode by typing in the root password everytime even though you know the password, since you may have to change your webpages or scripts during its development stage  very frequently. So a better idea to avoid this problem is to change the default Document root directory to some other location which doesn't require root permission for access.

Change it dude !!!
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Inorder to change the document root,

#1. Make a directory somewhere inside your home directory to use as the Document root. (not necessarily be home... you can make it anywhere). I named it 'www'

$ mkdir /home/jo/www

#2. Now we have to edit the one of the configuration file of the Apache webserver. The file is located @  /etc/apache2/sites-available/default (requires root permission to edit it).

$ sudo gedit /etc/apache2/sites-available/default

The file will be opened up in the gedit text editor. Now you have to edit the DocumentRoot directive in this file. Replace the /var/www with the /path/to/your/new/document/root in the lines 4 and 9 as shown in the figure below.

#3. Restart the apache webserver.

$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2  restart

Now test it !!!

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#1. Create a html/php file inside the Document Root directory (mine is @ /home/jo/www).

#2. Take the terminal and navigate to the Document Root directory (using cd command). Use chmod command given below to allow read+write+execute permission to all.

$ chmod 777 *

#3. Take your web browser and type in http://localhost and hit the enter key! The apache server will load the contents of your Document Root directory as in the figure.

Hope you have done it right!!!

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Changing Permissions with chmod

The chmod command lets you change the access permissions of files and directories. shows several chmod command lines and how access to the directory or file changes.

chmod 0700
The directory’s owner can read or write files in that directory as well as change to it. All other users (except root) have no access.

chmod 0711 

Same as for the owner. All others can change to the directory, but not view or change files in the directory. This can be useful for server hardening, where you prevent someone from
listing directory contents, but allow access to a file in the directory if someone already knows it’s there.

chmod go+r
Adding read permission to a directory may not give desired results. Without execute on, others can’t view the contents of any files in that directory.

chmod 0777
All permissions are wide open.

chmod 0000
All permissions are closed. Good to protect a directory from errant changes. However, backup programs that run as non-root may fail to back up the directory’s contents.

chmod 666
Open read/write permissions completely on a file.

chmod go-rw Don’t let anyone except the owner view, change, or delete the file.

chmod 644
Only the owner can change or delete the file, but all can view it.

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