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Activating mod_rewrite on Apache @ Ubuntu

I can usually find my way through Server configuration files fairly easy, but upon installing a LAMP server on Ubuntu I noticed "mod_rewrite" wasn't working at all. The answer ended up being fairly simple, once you know where to look, but for others not to struggle as I did I'll post what and where to look.

Ubuntu's Apache is quite modularized; both in packages and in runtime senses. This has several advantages which I wont mention here, but forces you to edit several configuration files to make adjustments.

Here's the ABC to it:

• Add a loader to mod_rewrite module:
  Execute (on the shell):
  sudo a2enmod rewrite
• Edit the apache2.conf by adding a call:
  On ubuntu this file usually sits on: /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
  <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
</IfModule>
  Note: you can also add this on the .htaccess files.
• Edit the virtual host file:
  To know what hosts are enabled take a look at:
  /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/
  There you'll see a simlink to some file(s) sitting at:
  /etc/apache2/sites-available/
  which you'll have to edit.
  You need to add the permissions for your directorie(s):
  <Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
</Directory>Note: you can set this values for the root directory (as in this example) or for just 1 or more folders / sub-folders.
• Restart your Apache:
  sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload
  or
  sudo apache2ctl restart

That should do the trick!