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Apache - Host Visual Studio .NET 8 Deployments

Introduction

This is to prep the Linux server to host Visual Studio code.

This is for either RedHat or Rocky Linux installations. 

For this configuration were are installing on a Rocky Linux server.

Preparation

Make sure that the server is up to date

dnf update -y

Configuration

Install the ASP .NET Core Runtime

dnf install aspnetcore-runtime-8.0 -y

Verification

dotnet --info

This should bring back the installation results

Host:
  Version:      8.0.8
  Architecture: x64
  Commit:       08338fcaa5
  RID:          rocky.9-x64

.NET SDKs installed:
  No SDKs were found.

.NET runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 8.0.8 [/usr/lib64/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 8.0.8 [/usr/lib64/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]

Other architectures found:
  None

Environment variables:
  DOTNET_ROOT       [/usr/lib64/dotnet]

global.json file:
  Not found

Learn more:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet/info

Download .NET:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet/download

Setup the Project

You will need to SSH to to the Linux server and navigate to the deployment folder.

In our case the project is an API project that is called MyFFLBookAPI

Once in the folder you can start the project this way

cd /var/www/html/api
dotnet MyFFLBookAPI.dll
[/var/www/html/api]# dotnet MyFFLBookAPI.dll 
warn: Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection.KeyManagement.XmlKeyManager[35]
      No XML encryptor configured. Key {3cacc8f4-baca-4475-9498-610b5e187653} may be persisted to storage in unencrypted form.
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[14]
      Now listening on: http://localhost:5000
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Application started. Press Ctrl+C to shut down.
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Hosting environment: Production
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Content root path: /var/www/html/api

As you can see the server started on localhost port 5000. If you wish you can change the port to another if needed.

Simply use the Ctrl+C key to shutdown the project

Change Port

You will need to add an entry for Kestrel to redirect the port after the allowed hosts entry

  "AllowedHosts": "*",
    "Kestrel": {
          "Endpoints": {
          "Http": {
            "Url": "http://*:8081"
          }       
          }
    }

Now to test restart the project

dotnet MyFFLBookAPI.dll
[/var/www/html/api]# dotnet MyFFLBookAPI.dll
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[14]
      Now listening on: http://[::]:8081
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Application started. Press Ctrl+C to shut down.
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Hosting environment: Production
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Content root path: /var/www/html/api

Now you can see that is started on the new port 8081

Setup a Service

First you will have the create a unit file for the service by doing the following

vi /lib/systemd/system/myfflbookapi.service

then for the entries within the unit service file

[Unit]
Description=MyFFLBookAPI

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/html/api
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dotnet /var/www/html/api/MyFFLBookAPI.dll
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
KillSignal=SIGINT
SyslogIdentifier=myfflbookapi
User=root
Environment=ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Once configured you can test the service

To start the service do the following

systemctl start myfflbookapi

Then verify the status of the service

systemctl status myfflbookapi

Results of the above command

* myfflbookapi.service - MyFFLBookAPI
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/myfflbookapi.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2024-08-31 10:14:38 EDT; 6s ago
   Main PID: 59786 (dotnet)
      Tasks: 28 (limit: 408004)
     Memory: 40.5M
        CPU: 515ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/myfflbookapi.service
             `-59786 /usr/bin/dotnet /var/www/html/api/MyFFLBookAPI.dll

Aug 31 10:14:38 sfl-web-001.onling.com systemd[1]: Started MyFFLBookAPI.
Aug 31 10:14:38 sfl-web-001.onling.com myfflbookapi[59786]: info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[14]
Aug 31 10:14:38 sfl-web-001.onling.com myfflbookapi[59786]:       Now listening on: http://[::]:8081
Aug 31 10:14:38 sfl-web-001.onling.com myfflbookapi[59786]: info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
Aug 31 10:14:38 sfl-web-001.onling.com myfflbookapi[59786]:       Application started. Press Ctrl+C to shut down.
Aug 31 10:14:38 sfl-web-001.onling.com myfflbookapi[59786]: info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
Aug 31 10:14:38 sfl-web-001.onling.com myfflbookapi[59786]:       Hosting environment: Production
Aug 31 10:14:38 sfl-web-001.onling.com myfflbookapi[59786]: info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
Aug 31 10:14:38 sfl-web-001.onling.com myfflbookapi[59786]:       Content root path: /var/www/html/api

As you can see the service is running.

Now you can set the service to auto start on boot

systemctl enable myfflbookapi

It will auto create a link for boot

Redirecting Ports

in the "/etc/httpd/site-available" folder you will need to create a file for the website, in our case we will be using "sflservicesllc.io.conf"

cd /etc/httpd/sites-available

Then create the following file

vi sflservicesllc.io.conf

Add the following in the file

<VirtualHost *:80>

        ServerName sflservicesllc.io
        ServerAlias www.sflservicesllc.io
        ProxyPreserveHost On
        ProxyPass / https://localhost:8081/
        ProxyPassReverse / https://localhost:8081/

        ErrorLog logs/API_error_log
        TransferLog logs/API_access_log
        RewriteEngine on
        RewriteCond %{SERVER_NAME} =sflservicesllc.io
        RewriteRule ^ https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [END,NE,R=permanent]

</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:443>

        SSLProxyEngine On
        SSLProxyVerify none
        SSLProxyCheckPeerCN off
        SSLProxyCheckPeerName off
        SSLProxyCheckPeerExpire off
        #SSLProxyCACertificateFile

        ServerName sflservicesllc.io
        ServerAlias www.sflservicesllc.io
        ProxyPreserveHost On
        ProxyPass / https://localhost:8081/
        ProxyPassReverse / https://localhost:8081/

        ErrorLog logs/ssl_API_error_log
        TransferLog logs/ssl_API_access_log

</VirtualHost>
cd /etc/httpd/sites-enabled
ln -s /etc/httpd/sites-available/sflservicesllc.io.conf

Then restart the Apache web service

systemctl restart httpd

Other Materials

You can also find on the Microsoft web site how to install on different versions other then the ones mentioned here

Install the .NET SDK or the .NET Runtime on RHEL and CentOS Stream

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