Notes

Web Services

2 min read

Communication with web servers is an essential aspect of Linux-based systems. Web servers like Apache, Nginx, and IIS are commonly used for hosting websites and applications. These servers often leverage modules for added functionality, such as:

  • mod_ssl: Encrypt communication between browser and web server.
  • mod_proxy: Act as a proxy server.
  • mod_headers: Perform complex HTTP header manipulations.
  • mod_rewrite: Modify URLs dynamically.

Apache also supports server-side scripting with languages like: PHP, Perl, Ruby and other options like Python, JavaScript, Lua and .NET.

Apache

workstation@htb[/htb]$ sudo apt install apache2 -y

After starting the Apache server, navigate to http://localhost in your browser. The default page confirms that the server is working correctly.

cURL

cURL is a command-line tool for transferring data over protocols like HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SFTP, SCP, etc. It allows remote control and testing of websites, including inspecting client-server communications. This output shows the source code of the web page retrieved from the server.

workstation@htb[/htb]$ curl http://localhost
 
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
    <title>Apache2 Ubuntu Default Page: It works</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>It works!</h1>
  </body>
</html>

Wget

Wget is a command-line tool to download files from HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP servers. It saves content locally, making it a useful download manager.

workstation@htb[/htb]$ wget http://localhost
 
--2020-05-15 17:43:52--  http://localhost/
Resolving localhost (localhost)... 127.0.0.1
Connecting to localhost (localhost)|127.0.0.1|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 10918 (11K) [text/html]
Saving to: 'index.html'
 
index.html 100%[=======================================>]  10,66K  --.-KB/s  
2020-05-15 17:43:52 (33,0 MB/s) - ‘index.html’ saved [10918/10918]

You can also use python as mentioned in the previous one; same logic as connecting via networking for python3.

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