Apache name based VirtualHost example

Posted by Vivek Gite [Last updated: October 27, 2006]

Q. Can you give or specify an example for Apache name based VirtualHost feature?

A. The term Virtual Host refers to the practice of maintaining more than one web site on one Apache machine or server.

The NameVirtualHost directive is a required directive if you want to configure name-based virtual hosts.

With the NameVirtualHost directive you specify the IP address on which the server will receive requests for the name-based virtual hosts. This will usually be the address to which your name-based virtual host names resolve.

For example if your IP address is 203.54.2.5. Set it as follows in httpd.conf file:
# vi /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
Set NameVirtualHost as follows:
NameVirtualHost 203.54.2.5:80
Let us see how your virtual host entry looks for two domains called theos.in and nixcraft.com . Code for theos.in domain:
<VirtualHost theos.in/> ServerAdmin webmaster@theos.in DocumentRoot /var/www/theos.in ServerName theos.in ServerAlias www.theos.in ErrorLog /var/logs/httpd/theos.in/error_log CustomLog /var/logs/httpd/theos.in/access_log common </VirtualHost>
Code for nixcraft.com domain:
<VirtualHost nixcraft.com/> ServerAdmin webmaster@nixcraft.com DocumentRoot /var/www/nixcraft.com ServerName nixcraft.com ServerAlias www.nixcraft.com ErrorLog /var/logs/httpd/nixcraft.com/error_log CustomLog /var/logs/httpd/nixcraft.com/access_log common </VirtualHost>

Save and close the file. Restart Apache:
# /etc/init.d/httpd restart

Make sure both domains theos.in and nixcraft.com points to (A address) 203.54.2.5. Also make sure you create /var/logs/httpd/domain-name directories and point ftp user directory to appropriate /var/www/domain-name directory.

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