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Configure a web server (Apache, NGINX or lighttpd)

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gjr80 edited this page Aug 5, 2021 · 5 revisions

WeeWX works with many different web servers, including Apache, NGINX, and lighttpd.

If you install WeeWX from a DEB or RPM package on a system that has a functioning web server, the WeeWX reports should be visible at the path http://hostname/weewx

If you cannot see the WeeWX reports, you must tell the web server where to find them.

There are three basic strategies: modify the web server configuration, modify the WeeWX configuration, or create a symlink.

The following examples show how to make the URL http://hostname/weewx point to the HTML_ROOT directory /home/weewx/public_html

Strategy 1: Modify the web server configuration

Each web server has a mechanism to alias a URL to a location on disk. Use this mechanism to tell the web server where to find WeeWX reports.

Apache

For Apache, you will add a .conf file that contains the configuration specific to WeeWX. The location of the file depends on the Apache version, the operating system and the operating system version. On some systems, the file is located in a directory called conf.d:

/etc/apache2/conf.d/weewx.conf

On some systems, the files are located in a directory called conf-available, with a symlink in a directory called conf-enabled:

/etc/apache2/conf-available/weewx.conf
/etc/apache2/conf-enabled/weewx.conf -> ../conf-available/weewx.conf

Apache 2.2

An example configuration file for Apache 2.2 is included in the WeeWX distribution at /home/weewx/util/apache/conf.d/weewx.conf for setup.py installs or /etc/weewx/apache/conf.d/weewx.conf for package installs. Copy this file to your Apache conf.d directory and restart Apache.

sudo cp /home/weewx/util/apache/conf.d/weewx.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/

or

sudo cp /etc/weewx/apache/conf.d/weewx.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/

Alternatively, create a file conf.d/weewx.conf with the following contents then restart Apache.

Alias /weewx /home/weewx/public_html
<Directory /home/weewx/public_html>
  Options FollowSymlinks
  AllowOverride None
  Order allow,deny
  Allow from all
</Directory>

Apache 2.4

An example configuration file for Apache 2.4 is included in the WeeWX distribution at /home/weewx/util/apache/conf-available/weewx.conf for setup.py installs or /etc/weewx/apache/conf-available/weewx.conf for package installs. Copy this file to your Apache conf-available directory, create a symlink to this file in your Apache conf-enabled directory and restart Apache.

sudo cp /home/weewx/util/apache/conf-available/weewx.conf /etc/apache2/conf-available
sudo ln -s /etc/apache2/conf-available/weewx.conf /etc/apache2/conf-enabled

or

sudo cp /etc/weewx/apache/conf-available/weewx.conf /etc/apache2/conf-available
sudo ln -s /etc/apache2/conf-available/weewx.conf /etc/apache2/conf-enabled

Alternatively, create a file conf-available/weewx.conf with these contents, create a symlink to this file in your Apache conf-enabled directory and restart Apache.

Alias /weewx /home/weewx/public_html
<Directory /home/weewx/public_html>
  Options FollowSymlinks
  AllowOverride None
  Require all granted
</Directory>

sudo ln -s /etc/apache2/conf-available/weewx.conf /etc/apache2/conf-enabled

NGINX

Modify the NGINX configuration file /etc/nginx/sites-available with a new location stanza, then restart NGINX.

server {
  ...
  location /weewx {
    alias /home/weewx/public_html;
  }
}

lighttpd

alias.url += ( "/weewx" => "/home/weewx/public_html" )

Strategy 2: Modify HTML_ROOT in the WeeWX configuration

The HTML_ROOT variable indicates where WeeWX should put its reports. Specify a different location in the [StdReport] section of the WeeWX configuration file (typically weewx.conf). For example, this would put the WeeWX reports in /var/www/html/weewx, which is in the document root directory /var/www/html for many web servers:

[StdReport]
    HTML_ROOT = /var/www/html/weewx

Note that you can specify a different HTML_ROOT for each report, if necessary.

Strategy 3: Create a symlink

With this approach, make a symlink in the web server directory tree to the WeeWX reports. For example, this would create a symlink for a WeeWX installation installed using setup.py to the weewx directory in the standard document root directdory /var/www/html:

sudo ln -s /home/weewx/public_html /var/www/html/weewx

Compatibility changes

There were changes to the location of HTML_ROOT and the web server document root in the WeeWX DEB package to match the Debian Apache configuration. The following table indicates where to find WeeWX reports and the web server document tree.

WeeWX install method HTML_ROOT
3.6+ setup.py /home/weewx/public_html
3.6+ DEB /var/www/html/weewx
3.6+ RPM /var/www/html/weewx
<= 3.5 setup.py /home/weewx/public_html
<= 3.5 DEB /var/www/weewx
<= 3.5 RPM /var/www/html/weewx
Debian web server DocumentRoot
8 Apache /var/www/html
8 nginx /var/www/html
7 Apache /var/www
7 nginx /usr/share/nginx/www

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