1. Change in php.ini.
max_execution_time = 1800
max_input_time = 1800
memory_limit = 1024M
2. sudo a2enmod rewrite
Added the following lines to my /etc/apache2/sites-available/my.host.com
<Directory /var/www/html/m2>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>
Then ran:
sudo service apache2 restart