To see if mod rewrite is enabled just create a simple php page with the following content
<?php
echo phpinfo();
?>
When you browse to this page you should see mod_rewrite listed as a loaded module.
If not, then you gotta enable mod_rewrite for Apache
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
Now you can create a .htaccess file into the root of your site and start adding rewrite rules. Here’s a simple example to make sure rewrites are working
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.google.com/
When you browse to your site, you should now be redirected to Google – if not, don’t fret! There’s one other gotcha you should know about! Look in the configuration file for your site under Apache (eg. /etc/apache2/sites-available/default) and you will see a <directory> element for your site (careful, there could be a few different <directory> elements floating around, be sure to pick the right one). This will have an AllowOverride attribute which is likely set to None. This is the problem – if you want rewrite rules to take effect then AllowOverride should not be set to None. Try changing it to All. And hey presto, you should be good to go!
This thread on Ubuntu’s forums proved invaluable in explaining this.
