Add mod rewrite to apache

Here's how you make sure mod-rewrite is enabled in apache under Ubuntu:

# apache2ctl -t -D DUMP_MODULES | grep rew
Syntax OK
# cd /etc/apache2
# grep -ir "rewrite" *
mods-available/rewrite.load:LoadModule rewrite_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_rewrite.so
# ln -s mods-available/rewrite.load mods-enabled/
# /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
 * Restarting web server apache2                                                                                                                             * We failed to correctly shutdown apache, so we're now killing all running apache processes. This is almost certainly suboptimal, so please make sure your system is working as you'd expect now!
 ... waiting apache2: Syntax error on line 204 of /etc/apache2/apache2.conf: Could not open configuration file /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/rewrite.load: No such file or directory
                                                                                                                                                     [fail]
# ll mods-enabled/rewrite.load 
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 27 Oct  3 13:47 mods-enabled/rewrite.load -> mods-available/rewrite.load
# unlink mods-enabled/rewrite.load 
# ln -s /etc/apache2/mods-available/rewrite.load /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/
# ll mods-enabled/rewrite.load 
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 40 Oct  3 13:48 mods-enabled/rewrite.load -> /etc/apache2/mods-available/rewrite.load
# /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
 * Restarting web server apache2                                                                                                                     [ OK ] 
# apache2ctl -t -D DUMP_MODULES | grep rew
Syntax OK
 rewrite_module (shared)

Next step

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/rewrite/remapping.html