Apache Configuration for EPrints with Anubis

This page details the Apache configuration required to deploy Anubis proxy within EPrints using this ingredient and running its bin/generate_apacheconf_for_anubis, as of 24th August 2026.

The following placeholders are used within these configuration files:

Placeholder	Description	Example
ADMIN_EMAIL	The email address for the EPrints repository archive's administrator.	eprints@example.org
ARCHIVE_ID	ID of the specific EPrints repository archive.	example_org
EPRINTS_PATH	Path to EPrints installation.	/opt/eprints3
HOSTNAME	The hostname of the EPrints repository archive.	eprints.example.org

Organisation of Configuration

There are is a simplification in this set of configuration with the substituting the include of ARCHIVE_ID.logging.conf in the archive level internal (port 3000) HTTP VirtualHost (EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/apache/ARCHIVE_ID.conf) for the actual configuration in that file.

• Apache Level Configuration (/etc/httpd/conf.d/eprints.conf or /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/eprints.conf)
  • EPrints Level HTTP VirtualHosts (EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/apache.conf)
    • EPrints Level Perl Module Isolation (EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/perl_module_isolation.conf)
    • Archive Level HTTP VirtualHost HTTP-to-HTTPS Redirect (ARCHIVE_ID_http_to_https_redirect.conf)
    • Archive Level Internal (port 3000) HTTP VirtualHost (EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/apache/ARCHIVE_ID.conf)
  • Archive Level HTTPS Virtualhost (EPRINTS_PATH/archives/ARCHIVE_ID/ssl/securevhost.conf)
    • Archive Level Anubis Proxy for HTTPS VirtualHost (EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/apache_ssl/ARCHIVE_ID.conf)

Apache Level Configuration (/etc/httpd/conf.d/eprints.conf or /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/eprints.conf)

Include EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/apache.conf
Include EPRINTS_PATH/archives/*/securevhost.conf

EPrints Level HTTP VirtualHosts (EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/apache.conf)

#
# apache.conf include file for EPrints
#
# Any changes made here will be lost if you run generate_apacheconf_for_anubis
#

# EPrints moved to be internal-only, with Anubis facing the outside world.
Listen [::1]:3000

# Load the perl modules & repository configurations
PerlSwitches -IEPRINTS_PATH/perl_lib
Include EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/perl_module_isolation.conf

# Load the per-repository apache configuration
Include EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/apache/*.conf

EPrints Level Perl Module Isolation (EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/perl_module_isolation.conf)

##This file is included by apache.conf -- Do not edit this file directly.
##You should edit the perl_module_isolation flag in EPRINTS_PATH/perl_lib/EPrints/SystemSettings.pm, then run EPRINTS_PATH/bin/generate_apacheconf --system --replace to regenerate this file.

##The following two lines turn the perl_module_isolation OFF (All repositories now sharing a single perl interpreter and have access to all perl modules.)
PerlModule EPrints
PerlPostConfigHandler +EPrints::post_config_handler

Archive Level HTTP VirtualHost HTTP-to-HTTPS Redirect (ARCHIVE_ID_http_to_https_redirect.conf)

#
# apache.conf include file for ARCHIVE_ID
#
# Any changes made here will be lost if you run generate_apacheconf
# or generate_apacheconf for anubis with the --replace option
#

# The main virtual host for this repository
<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName HOSTNAME

  ServerAdmin ADMIN_EMAIL

  RedirectPermanent / https://HOSTNAME/
</VirtualHost>

Archive Level Internal (port 3000) HTTP VirtualHost (EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/apache/ARCHIVE_ID.conf)

#
# apache.conf include file for ARCHIVE_ID
#
# Any changes made here will be lost if you run generate_apacheconf 
# or generate_apacheconf_for_anubis with the --replace option
#

# The main virtual host for this repository
<VirtualHost *:3000>
  ServerName HOSTNAME

  # This file configures the apache logs of EPrints itself. Only requests passed through anubis to EPrints can make it this far.
  # This file will not be overwritten by generate_apacheconf_for_anubis, so you can modify it.
  LogFormat "%h %T %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Accept-Language}i\" \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-agent}i\" \"%{techaro.lol-anubis-cookie-verification}C\""
  ErrorLog    /var/log/httpd/eprints_internal_error_log
  TransferLog /var/log/httpd/eprints_internal_access_log

  ServerAdmin ADMIN_EMAIL

  Include EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/perl_module_isolation_vhost.conf

  <Location "">
    PerlSetVar EPrints_ArchiveID ARCHIVE_ID
    PerlSetVar EPrints_Secure yes

    Options +ExecCGI
    <IfModule mod_authz_core.c>
       Require all granted
    </IfModule>
    <IfModule !mod_authz_core.c>
       Order allow,deny
       Allow from all
    </IfModule>
  </Location>
 
  # Set by $c->{max_upload_filesize}
  LimitRequestBody 1073741824

  # Note that PerlTransHandler can't go inside
  # a "Location" block as it occurs before the
  # Location is known.
  PerlTransHandler +EPrints::Apache::Rewrite

  # Get the real remote IP back, otherwise all accesses appear to come from ::1
  <IfModule remoteip_module>
    RemoteIPHeader X-Real-Ip
    RemoteIPTrustedProxy ::1
  </IfModule>
</VirtualHost>

Archive Level HTTPS Virtualhost (EPRINTS_PATH/archives/ARCHIVE_ID/ssl/securevhost.conf)

• Includes Shibboleth configuration that is ultimately exempted from being proxied via Anubis
• Logs names based on those used for RHEL-based Linux, changes may be required for Debian-based Linux (e.g Ubuntu).

<VirtualHost *:443>
 
  Header set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

  LogFormat "%h %T %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Accept-Language}i\" \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-agent}i\" \"%{techaro.lol-anubis-cookie-verification}C\""
  ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/ssl_error_log
  TransferLog /var/log/httpd/ssl_access_log
  LogLevel warn

  SSLEngine on
  SSLProtocol all -SSLv2 -SSLv3 -TLSv1 -TLSv1.1
  SSLHonorCipherOrder on
  SSLCompression off
  SSLSessionTickets off
  SSLCipherSuite ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE- RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256

  SSLCertificateFile EPRINTS_PATH/archives/ARCHIVE_ID/ssl/HOSTNAME.crt
  SSLCertificateKeyFile EPRINTS_PATH/archives/ARCHIVE_ID/ssl/HOSTNAME.key
  SSLCertificateChainFile EPRINTS_PATH/archives/ARCHIVE_ID/ssl/HOSTNAME.ca-bundle

  Include EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/apache_ssl/ARCHIVE_ID.conf

  Alias /shibboleth EPRINTS_PATH/archives/ARCHIVE_ID/shibboleth
  <Location "/shibboleth">
    SetHandler perl-script
    PerlHandler ModPerl::Registry
    PerlSendHeader Off
    Options ExecCGI FollowSymLinks
  
    AuthType shibboleth
    ShibRequestSetting requireSession 1
    require shib-session
    PerlSetVar EPrints_ArchiveID reading
  </Location>

  <Location /cgi/shibboleth>
    AuthType shibboleth
    ShibRequestSetting requireSession 1
    require shib-session
  </Location>

  PerlTransHandler +EPrints::Apache::Rewrite

</VirtualHost>

Archive Level Anubis Proxy for HTTPS VirtualHost (EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/apache_ssl/ARCHIVE_ID.conf)

# HTTPS listener that forwards to Anubis

# These headers need to be set or else Anubis will
# throw an "admin misconfiguration" error.
RequestHeader set "X-Real-Ip" expr=%{REMOTE_ADDR}
RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto "https"
RequestHeader set "X-Http-Version" "%{SERVER_PROTOCOL}s"

ProxyPreserveHost On

ProxyRequests Off
ProxyVia Off
ProxyTimeout 300

# don't try and proxy shibboleth.
ProxyPass /Shibboleth.sso !
ProxyPass /shibboleth !
ProxyPass /cgi/shibboleth !

# Replace 8923 with the port Anubis listens on
ProxyPass / http://[::1]:8923/
ProxyPassReverse / http://[::1]:8923/