By default, cross domain requests are disabled in Apache web server. You need to set the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header to enable CORS (Cross Origin Resource Sharing) in Apache. Here are the steps to enable CORS in Apache web server.
How to Enable CORS in Apache Web Server
Here’s how to enable CORS in Apache
1. Enable headers module
You need to enable headers module to enable CORS in Apache.
Ubuntu/Debian
In ubuntu/debian linux, open terminal & run the following command to enable headers module.
$ sudo a2enmod headers
CentOS/Redhat/Fedora
In CentOS/Redhat/Fedora linux, open the Apache configuration file httpd.conf and uncomment the following line by removing # in front of them.
LoadModule headers_module modules/mod_headers.so
Bonus Read : How to List All Virtual Hosts in Apache
2. Enable CORS in Apache
Next, add the “Header add Access-Control-Allow-Origin *” directive to either your Apache config file, or .htaccess file, or Virtual Host configuration file, depending on your requirement. If you add it to your main configuration file, CORS will be enabled to all websites on your server. If you add it to .htaccess file or virtual host configuration file, then it will be enabled for only that file’s website. Here are examples of how to add this directive in different files. You can use any one of them.
Directory Tag in Main Configuration File
<Directory /var/www/html> ... Header set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*" ... </Directory>
Anywhere in .htaccess file
... Header add Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*" ...
VirtualHost Tag in Virtual Host Configuration File
<VirtualHost *:443> ... Header add Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*" ... </VirtualHost>
Bonus Read : How to Enable TLS 1.3 in Apache
There are different configurations available to enable CORS in Apache.
Enable CORS from all websites
If you want to enable CORS for all websites, that is, accept cross domain requests from all websites, add the following
Header add Access-Control-Allow-Origin *;
In the above statement, we use wildcard (*) for Apache Access-Control-Allow-Origin directive
Enable CORS from one domain
If you want to enable CORS for one website domain (e.g example.com), specify that domain in place of wildcard character *.
Header add Access-Control-Allow-Origin "example.com";
Enable CORS from multiple domains
If you want to enable CORS for multiple domains (e.g example1.com, example2.com,example3.com), specify them separately one after another
Header add Access-Control-Allow-Origin "example1.com"; Header add Access-Control-Allow-Origin "example2.com"; Header add Access-Control-Allow-Origin "example3.com";
Enable CORS from localhost
If you want to enable CORS from localhost, add 127.0.0.1 or localhost in place of domain name
Header add Access-Control-Allow-Origin "localhost";
Bonus Read : How to Install Varnish in Ubuntu
3. Restart Apache Server
Restart Apache web server to apply changes
-------------- On Debian/Ubuntu -------------- # apache2 -t # systemctl restart apache2.service -------------- On RHEL/CentOS/Fedora -------------- # httpd -t # systemctl restart httpd.service
You can use free online tools like Test CORS to test if your website accepts CORS.
That’s it! Hopefully the above tutorial will help you enable CORS in Apache.
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