07.06.2023

How to Configure HTTP/2 in Apache on CentOS 8

The HTTP/2 protocol was created as a more advanced version of HTTP. It allows you to speed up the site and reduce the load on the web server and communication channel. All this leads to a reduction in costs and even an increase in the site's position in search engines. In this tutorial, we will configure HTTP/2 protocol in Apache web server on CentOS 8. To get started, you will need an
SSL certificate installed on Apache. You can use this tutorial - How to Setup Let’s Encrypt SSL on Apache. Most browsers only work with HTTP/2 over HTTPS.

Preparing the system

First, you need the latest version of Apache. Therefore, you need to update the packages in the system.

dnf upgrade

On CentOS/RHEL 8 systems mod_http2 is installed with Apache. To make sure that it is in the system, or install it if not:

dnf install mod_http2

Apache configuration for HTTP/2

Make sure that the HTTP/2 module is enabled in Apache.

cat /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/10-h2.conf

Output:

LoadModule http2_module modules/mod_http2.so

Open the configuration file for your virtual host and find the section VirtualHost *:443

nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/domain-name.com.conf

It may also be in the domain-name.com-le-ssl.conf file. Add the Protocols parameter there.

<virtualhost :443>
Protocols h2 http/1.1
...</virtualhost>

Save and close the file, and then restart Apache.

systemctl restart httpd

Check if HTTP/2 works

You can check it this way:

curl -I https://domain-name.com

Output:

HTTP/2 200
...

Your Apache web server now uses the HTTP/2 Protocol.