Apache2.4 Virtual Host

These days, with evolving hardware, it is more cost efficient to host multiple web servers on one service.

Together with improving software, such thing can be easily achieved.

I am describing in this article how to create 2 virtual hosts named test1.com and test2.com.

Virtual Host in Apache 2.4

I am using for Apache 2.4 for virtual host.

Create root directory
Typically web contents are served from files under /var/www in linux.
You can add subdirectory under it to create separate document root for each virtual host.
How I do it is by creating directory www under /srv and create another sub-directories for each virtual host.
eg.
```
#> cd /srv
#> mkdir www
#> mkdir www/test1
#> mkdir www/test2
```

Add content to document root

#> nano /srv/www/test1/index.html
#> nano /srv/www/test2/index.html

Define virtual host in apache config file
Apache 2.4 will generate server(s) by referencing config files under /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/, however, as a rule of thumb, you should create a config file under /etc/apache2/sites-available/ and once it’s complete, generate a symbolic link.
```
#> nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/testserver.conf
#> cd /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/
#> ln -s ../sites-available/testserver.conf testserver.conf
```
The content of testserver.conf will look like below:
```
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName test1.com
    DocumentRoot /srv/www/test1
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName test2.com
    DocumentRoot /srv/www/test2
</VirtualHost>
```
4 lines are enough to create the Virtual Host!
Essential to be wrapped within directive is:
- ServerName: specifies what hostname must appear in the request’s Host: header to match this virtual host. It can be omitted so it will be the last resort host.
- DocumentRoot: identifies where the document is served from
Optionally you can add more directives to control the accesses / redirect / alias, etc.
4. Map the domain to the virtual hosts
In my example, I am hosting a server to my self. So am modifying hosts file to be able to recognise the virtual host.
```
#> cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1       localhost   test1.com   test2.com
...
```
When you make it public, you modify the A record of your domain provider.
Test it
Now you can wget or curl it to test it out!
wget -O - http://test1.com

That’s it!