Hugo Apache Macros, Make Site Maintenance Easy

Apache macros allow for fast and consistent site setup. Here I show how to setup mod_macro and provide a example configuration

Using Apache

I like to use templates for things I will do more then once. Apache has a template system named mod_macro The things macros make easy (for me):

  • Virtual Host management
  • Cache configuration per object/category associated to VirtualHost
  • maintaining allowed served file types (blocking file extensions and directories) EG: .git .secrets .jpg

enable apache macro module

a2enmod macro
LoadModule macro_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_macro.so

Create macro templates

Example Development SSL Virtual Host

Here I enable
1. apache generated directory index access for local networks
2. SSL Certificates known at a certain path managed by certbot
3. Specific cache rules for object types and filenames

<Macro SSLHostDev $host $port $dir $chain $key>
<VirtualHost *:$port>
        ServerName $host
        DocumentRoot "$dir"
        SSLEngine on
        SSLCertificateFile $chain
        SSLCertificateKeyFile  $key
    <Directory "$dir">
        Require ip 192.168.8.0/24
        Require ip 192.168.193.0/24
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    </Directory>
    ErrorLog  ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/$host_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/$host_access.log combined
    <IfModule mod_expires.c>
    <FilesMatch "\.(html)$">
    ExpiresActive On
    ExpiresDefault "access plus 10 minutes"
    </FilesMatch>
    <FilesMatch "\.(xml)$">
    ExpiresActive On
    ExpiresDefault "access plus 90 minutes"
    </FilesMatch>
    <FilesMatch ".(ico|pdf|flv|jpg|jpeg|png|gif|js|css|swf|webp)$">
    Header set Cache-Control "s-max-age=3600, public"
    ExpiresActive On
    ExpiresDefault "access plus 30 days"

    </FilesMatch>

    ExpiresByType image/wepb A2592000
    ExpiresByType image/jpeg A2592000
	<FilesMatch ".(webp)$">
        Header set X-Robots-Tag: noindex
    </FilesMatch>
    <FilesMatch "\.(?i:jpg)$">
        Order allow,deny
        Deny from all
    </FilesMatch>


    </IfModule>
  </VirtualHost>
</Macro>

define macro configuration line

Once a macro is defined you can enable sites with a single line. The line says use the template named SSLHostDev each space separated entry is related to the variables defined at the start of the template.

<Macro SSLHostDev $host $port $dir $chain $key>

Use SSLHostDev 65483-d.rasor.org 443 /www/65483-d.rasor.org/public /etc/letsencrypt/live/rasor.org/fullchain.pem /etc/letsencrypt/live/rasor.org/privkey.pem

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