Configure HTTP server

Requirements

• HTTP server to provide web interface: See also “Requirements”.

• MHonArc to provide message archives browseable by web interface.

• A mail domain name for the mailing list service. It must have been chosen when you configured mail server.

  Through the instructions in this chapter, mail.example.org will be used for example.

• The URL prefix dedicated for WWSympa service. Either http or https scheme may be used. The host part may or may not be the same as mail domain name.

  Through the instructions in this chapter, http://web.example.org/sympa will be used for example.

• Several binary distributions need additional packages installed to enable web interface.

  • RPM: Install sympa-httpd, sympa-lighttpd or sympa-nginx package according to HTTP servers you will configure.

Sympa configuration parameters

• wwsympa_url

  This is URL prefix of WWSympa service without trailing slash (/).

• mhonarc

  This is full path to executable file of MHonArc used to provide archives browseable by web interface.

See “Web interface parameters” in sympa.conf(5) for more parameters for web interface.

And following parameter in sympa.conf may be useful:

• log_facility

  Setting this, you can record logs about web interface into separate log file. Default value is the same as syslog parameter.

Note

• On Sympa 6.2.22 or earlier, value of use_fast_cgi parameter in sympa.conf must be 1, the default.

Two ways to integrate

There are two ways to integrate Sympa into HTTP server:

• virtual domain setting (managing one or more mail domains)
• single domain setting (managing only one mail domain)

The former is recommended. However, if you will never have plan to manage multiple domains, the latter is easier way.

You can not mix both ways. Following sections describe these two ways by each.

Virtual domain setting

1. If path of MHonArc executable file is differ from the default of mhonarc parameter, /usr/bin/mhonarc, define it in sympa.conf. For example:

   mhonarc /usr/local/bin/mhonarc
   

2. If directories for virtual domain configurations have not been created, create them (Note: replace $SYSCONFDIR, $EXPLDIR and mail.example.org below):

   # mkdir -m 755 $SYSCONFDIR/mail.example.org
   # touch $SYSCONFDIR/mail.example.org/robot.conf
   # chown -r sympa:sympa $SYSCONFDIR/mail.example.org
   # mkdir -m 750 $EXPLDIR/mail.example.org
   # chown sympa:sympa $EXPLDIR/mail.example.org
   

3. Edit robot.conf created by the step above to add parameter(s) described in previous section:

   wwsympa_url http://web.example.org/sympa
   

   Note

   • On Sympa 6.2.18 or earlier, robot.conf had to contain additional http_host parameter, like:

     wwsympa_url http://web.example.org/sympa
     http_host web.example.org/sympa
     

     There is no reason to use http_host on later releases.

4. Continue setting according to description in “Instruction by HTTP servers”.

If you want to add another domain, repeat steps in this section by each domain.

Single domain setting

1. Edit sympa.conf to add parameter(s) described in previous section:

   domain (...existing parameter value...)
   listmaster (...existing parameter value...)
   wwsympa_url http://web.example.org/sympa
   mhonarc /usr/local/bin/mhonarc     (If path is differ from the default)
   

2. Continue setting according to description in “Instruction by HTTP servers” section.

Instruction by HTTP servers

These methods are reported to be applicable to Apache HTTP Server (2.4 or later), nginx and lighttpd.

• Linux environments with Systemd support: See “Using Systemd socket”.

• Other environments: See “Using separate FastCGI service”.

Obsoleted methods

These pages describe the method using setuid wrappers (wwsympa-wrapper.fcgi and sympa_soap_server-wrapper.fcgi) which are no longer recommended.

• Apache HTTP Server (HTTP Server 2.2.x or earlier needs this method)
• lighttpd

Tests

1. Start web browser on your PC or PDA.

2. Open the URL http://web.example.org/sympa (the URL you have configured). And confirm that home page of Sympa web interface will be shown.

If something went unexpected, check following information:

• Logs of HTTP server (error log and access log).
• Sympa log file (see also “Configure system log”).
• Configuration of HTTP server and Sympa.