GMSINDIA The server in web applications frequently has to listen on more than one TCP port. The application may perform better and be more flexible as a result of this.
We’ll learn how to set up the Apache web server to listen on two separate ports in this article.
Listen 80
<IfModulessl_module>
...
</IfModule>
The Listen 80 declaration is visible, indicating that port 80 is the application’s default listening port.
To bind the second port to our application, we add a line Listen
Listen 80
Listen 8888
<IfModulessl_module>
...
</IfModule>
As we can see, our Apache web server now listens on both ports 80 and 8888.
The virtual host configurations are kept in the Virtual Host file. The user can manage hostname and port settings for various web pages using this file. It offers the ability to use the web server for various hostnames and ports, in particular.
We only need to add the second port to this file for this lesson.
The file /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf contains the configuration for the Virtual Host. Let’s examine the file to see the default configurations:
<VirtualHost *:80>
...
</VirtualHost>
vim: syntax=apache ts=4 sw=4 sts=4 sr noet
vim: syntax=apache ts=4 sw=4 sts=4 sr noet
At the top, there is a
To make our page work for both ports 80 and 8888, we need to add *:8888 after port 80:
<VirtualHost *:80 *:8888>
...
</VirtualHost>
vim: syntax=apache ts=4 sw=4 sts=4 sr noet
As a result, the Virtual Host file now contains both listened ports.
So now, we need to make the server apply these settings. For that, we should restart the Apache service:
sudo service apache2 restart
We may need to enter the password to be able to proceed because this command requires sudo access.
The netstat command, a fantastic tool for displaying network connection information, can be used for that:
sudo netstat -nltp | grep apache
tcp6 ... ... :::8888 ... LISTEN 1907/apache2
tcp6 ... ... :::80 ... LISTEN 1907/apache2
We used the following settings when running netstat:
Apache is listening on two ports, as we can see. Port 8888 is shown on the top line, and port 80 is shown on the bottom line.
Yes, you can. Simply add additional `Listen` statements in the port configuration file.
No, existing web applications should remain unaffected by adding new listening ports.
Check the Apache error logs for any specific error messages that can guide you in troubleshooting.
No, ports must be numeric values. “http” is not a valid port specification.
Yes, restarting the Apache service is necessary for the changes to take effect.
Yes, you can have distinct virtual host configurations for each port.
Ensure that firewall settings are adjusted to allow traffic on the new ports, and monitor for any unexpected behavior.
Ports below 1024 are considered privileged, and running Apache on these ports may require additional permissions.
Utilize tools like `telnet` or `nc` to check if a port is open and reachable from a client machine.
This error indicates that the port is already in use by another application. Choose a different port or identify and stop the conflicting application.
We learned how to configure the Apache server to listen on two separate ports in this post.