# Server Setup

While only Apache is officially supported, to get Directus working on most servers all you need to do is ensure that traffic is routed to the correct files. Let's take a look at some common examples below.

# Apache

# mod_rewrite

The mod_rewrite is an Apache module that uses a ruled-based rewriting engine to rewrite requested URLs.

Directus API requires mod_rewrite to be enabled on Apache, because it uses the URL rewriting to maps all requested URLs to an internal endpoint unless it matches an actual file in the filesystem.

The rewrite rules are include in Directus API inside the public directory in a .htaccess file that serve as the front controller for all the endpoints.

# Install mod_rewrite

Apache include mod_rewrite by default. If that's not the case, how to install it will depends on your system and apache version, and the best option will be to go to the Compiling and Installing section on Apache and tries to compile and install mod_rewrite individually.

Apache has a tool called apxs (APache eXtenSion) for lets you build and install modules this is a good option to install new modules from source.

# Enable mod_rewrite

There's different way to enable a module after being installed. On ubuntu-based distribution can be enabled using a2enmod script.

a2enmod rewrite

Make sure to reload all apache configuration.

service apache2 reload

If you are not using a ubuntu-based distribution or a2enmod is not available in your system, you can go to your apache configuration, on ubuntu-based system are usually located in /etc/apache2/conf/httpd.conf, and add a line to load the rewrite module.

LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

rewrite_module is the module name and modules/mod_rewrite.so is the path where the module file is located. In this case the module file is relative to the ServerRoot configured in your httpd.conf

# Check if mod_rewrite is enabled

Using the command line you can execute: apachectl -M | grep 'rewrite' and it will filter all installed modules that matches rewrite, if rewrite_module is returned, congratulations you already have installed and enabled mod_rewrite in your system.

# AllowOverride

Directus API comes with .htaccess files for the required configuration. These .htaccess won't work until the AllowOverride directive is set within a Directory block.

1. Go to your Apache virtual host configuration
2. Create a <Directory> block that points to Directus API root
3. Add AllowOverride All inside the <Directory> block to allow all directives in .htaccess including the mod_rewrite directives.

# Example

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin admin@example.com
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/directus/public
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

    <Directory /var/www/directus>
      AllowOverride All
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

# NGINX

# directus.conf

server {
    listen 80;
    
    # Change to corresponding location
    root /projects/directus/public;

    # Change virtual host if needed
    server_name directus.local;
    
    index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html index.php;

    # disable_symlinks if_not_owner;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }

    location /admin {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /admin/index.html?$args;
    }

    location /thumbnail {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /thumbnail/index.php?$args;
    }

    # Deny direct access to php files in extensions
    location /extensions/.+\.php$ {
        deny all;
    }

    # All uploads files (originals) cached for a year
    location ~* /uploads/([^/]+)/originals/(.*) {
        add_header Cache-Control "max-age=31536000";
    }

    # Serve php, html and cgi files as text file
    location ~* /uploads/.*\.(php|phps|php5|htm|shtml|xhtml|cgi.+)?$ {
        add_header Content-Type text/plain;
    }

    # Deny access to any file starting with .ht,
    # including .htaccess and .htpasswd
    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }

    # pass PHP scripts to FastCGI server
    #
    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
    
        # With php-fpm (or other unix sockets):
        # fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
        # With php-cgi (or other tcp sockets):
        fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
        fastcgi_param   SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }

}

# Caddy

Coming soon.