Apache Virtual Hosting: Name-Based and IP-Based Virtual Hosts in RHEL Systems

Virtual Hosting is a concept where multiple websites or domains are hosted on a single server, which is done to reduce resource overhead and running costs of a business or organization.

Apache web server simplifies hosting multiple sites by allowing system administrators to easily configure virtual hosts for each website. Virtual hosting can either be IP-based or name-based.

In this tutorial, we explore how to set up virtual hosting in RHEL-based distributions such as Fedora, CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, and Alma Linux using both IP-based and name-based virtual hosts in Linux.

Apache Virtual Hosting in Linux
Apache Virtual Hosting in Linux

The concepts of Shared Web Hosting and Reseller Web Hosting are based primarily on this feature of Apache.

Types of Apache Virtual Hosting in Linux

There are two types of Virtual Hosting is available with Apache.

Name Based Virtual Hosting

In this type of hosting, several domains or websites can be hosted on a single server using just a single IP address. Simply put, all domains will share a single IP address. This is the easiest virtual hosting type to configure since all you need to do is map the domain names to the IP address and then configure Apache virtual hosts for each of the domain names.

Apache Name Based Virtual Hosting-in-Linux
Apache Name-Based Virtual Hosting-in-Linux

IP Based Virtual Hosting

IP-based virtual hosting is where each domain is assigned a unique IP address. These IP addresses can be attached to the server using multiple NIC cards or a single NIC card.

Apache IP Based Virtual Hosting in Linux
Apache IP-Based Virtual Hosting in Linux

Testing Environment

  • OSFedora 34
  • ApplicationApache Web Server
  • IP Address192.168.2.105
  • IP Address192.168.2.106
  • Domainwww.mydomain1.com
  • Domainwww.mydomain2.com

How to Setup IP Based and Name-Based Apache Virtual Hosts

Before you get started, ensure that the Apache web server is installed on your system using the dnf command as shown.

$ sudo dnf install httpd -y
Install Apache in Linux
Install Apache in Linux

Setup Name-Based Virtual Hosting

The first step in setting up name-based virtual hosting is to set up domain name resolution in the /etc/hosts file. Therefore, run the following commands as root user to add the domain name entries pointing to the host’s IP address.

$ echo '192.168.2.105 www.mydomain1.com' >> /etc/hosts
$ echo '192.168.2.105 www.mydomain2.com' >> /etc/hosts

The next step is to create a directory that will contain the website files. Therefore, we will create two directories for the virtual hosts in the Document Root which is the /var/www/html folder in the Apache configuration.

$ sudo mkdir /var/www/html/mydomain1.com/
$ sudo mkdir /var/www/html/mydomain2.com/

The next step is to modify the virtual host file which will instruct Apache the IP to listen on for incoming Apache web server requests for all the domain names. Therefore, open the Apache configuration file using your preferred text editor.

$ sudo vim /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Add the following code blocks for the two virtual hosts.

<VirtualHost 192.168.2.105:80>
   ServerName mydomain1.com
   ServerAlias www.mydomain1.com
   DocumentRoot /var/www/html/mydomain1.com/
ErrorLog logs/www.mydomain1.com-error_log
CustomLog logs/www.mydomain1.com-access_log common
</VirtualHost>


<VirtualHost 192.168.2.105:80>
    ServerName mydomain2.com
    ServerAlias www.mydomain2.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/mydomain2.com
ErrorLog logs/www.mydomain2.com-error_log
CustomLog logs/www.mydomain2.com-access_log common
</VirtualHost>

Save the changes and exit. Next, check if the syntax is okay and that there are no errors.

$ httpd -t

Next, we will create HTML test pages for each of the domains and add some content as a way of confirming if everything is working properly from the browser.

For mydomain1.com

Create an index.html file under the mydomain1.com directory.

$ sudo vim /var/www/html/mydomain1.com/index.html 

Paste the following lines.

<html>
  <head>
    <title>My sample site</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Success! Welcome to mydomain1.com.</h1>
  </body>
</html>

Save the changes and exit the file.

For mydomain2.com

Create an index.html file under mydomain2.com directory.

$ sudo vim /var/www/html/mydomain2.com/index.html 

Paste the following lines.

<html>
  <head>
    <title>My sample site</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Success! Welcome to mydomain2.com.</h1>
  </body>
</html>

Save the changes and exit the file.

Now start the Apache web server and confirm that it is running.

$ sudo systemctl start httpd
$ sudo systemctl status httpd
Check Apache in Linux
Check Apache in Linux

If you have a firewall enabled, allow the HTTP and HTTPS ( when necessary) traffic.

$ sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=http --zone=public --permanent
$ sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=https --zone=public --permanent
$ sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Now test the domains from a browser.

Check mydomain1.com
Check mydomain1.com
Check mydomain2.com

Setup IP Based Virtual Hosting Linux

IP-based virtual hosting, as the name suggests, involves multiple IP addresses assigned to your Linux server. In most cases, two or more NIC cards are attached to your system to provide multiple IP addresses.

The goal of IP-based virtual hosting is to assign each domain to a unique IP address that will not be used by any other domain.

This is ideal for situations when you have websites encrypted with an SSL certificate (mod_ssl) or running on different ports. In our setup, we have two NIC adapters.

To view the IP configuration on your system, run the ifconfig or ip a command.

$ ifconfig
OR
$ ip addr
Check IP Address in Linux
Check IP Address in Linux

Our server has two IP addresses, each assigned to one NIC. The IP 192.168.2.106 is assigned to ens160 and 192.168.2.105 is assigned to ens224.

Once again, let’s configure the httpd.conf file.

$ sudo vim /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Create virtual hosts for both domains as shown. Be sure that each IP address is assigned to its respective virtual host configuration.

<VirtualHost 192.168.2.105:80>
   ServerName mydomain1.com
   ServerAlias www.mydomain1.com
   DocumentRoot /var/www/html/mydomain1.com/
ErrorLog logs/www.mydomain1.com-error_log
CustomLog logs/www.mydomain1.com-access_log common
</VirtualHost>


<VirtualHost 192.168.2.106:80>
    ServerName mydomain2.com
    ServerAlias www.mydomain2.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/mydomain2.com
ErrorLog logs/www.mydomain2.com-error_log
CustomLog logs/www.mydomain2.com-access_log common
</VirtualHost>

Save and exit the configuration file. Next, modify the /etc/hosts file as shown.

$ echo '192.168.2.105 www.mydomain1.com' >> /etc/hosts
$ echo '192.168.2.106 www.mydomain2.com'>> /etc/hosts

Confirm the entries:

$ cat /etc/hosts

192.168.2.105 www.mydomain1.com
192.168.2.106 www.mydomain2.com

Next, restart the Apache webserver for the changes to come into effect.

$ sudo systemctl restart httpd

Finally, test your IP-based Virtual hosting setup by accessing the URLs as shown.

http://192.168.2.105
http://192.168.2.106
Check mydomain1.com
Check mydomain2.com
Check mydomain2.com

This test confirms that the IP-based virtual hosting is working just as expected!

Conclusion

And that’s it for this lecture. We hope that you can seamlessly configure both types of virtual hosting without much of a problem. Your feedback on this guide is much appreciated.

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Tarunika Shrivastava
I am a linux server admin and love to play with Linux and all other distributions of it. I am working as System Engineer with a Web Hosting Company.

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52 thoughts on “Apache Virtual Hosting: Name-Based and IP-Based Virtual Hosts in RHEL Systems”

  1. there is no httpd.conf and no httpd to install as
    PRETTY_NAME=”Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)”
    NAME=”Debian GNU/Linux”
    VERSION_ID=”9″
    VERSION=”9 (stretch)”
    ID=debian
    HOME_URL=”https://www.debian.org/”
    SUPPORT_URL=”https://www.debian.org/support”
    BUG_REPORT_URL=”https://bugs.debian.org/”
    when try to install it
    sudo apt install httpd
    Reading package lists… Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information… Done
    Package httpd is a virtual package provided by:
    apache2 2.4.25-3+deb9u2
    yaws 2.0.4+dfsg-1
    webfs 1.21+ds1-12
    tntnet 2.2.1-3+b1
    ocsigenserver 2.7-1+b4
    nginx-light 1.10.3-1+deb9u1
    nginx-full 1.10.3-1+deb9u1
    nginx-extras 1.10.3-1+deb9u1
    mini-httpd 1.23-1.2
    micro-httpd 20051212-15.1
    lighttpd 1.4.45-1
    ebhttpd 1:1.0.dfsg.1-4.3+b2
    aolserver4-daemon 4.5.1-18.1
    aolserver4-core 4.5.1-18.1
    You should explicitly select one to install.

    E: Package ‘httpd’ has no installation candidate

    Reply
  2. Isn’t it better to use /var/www/domain.tld/public_html instead of /var/www/html/domain.tld/public_html because 000-default.conf points to /var/www/html and if enabled you can jump to other sites document if you know the folder name.

    Reply
  3. Hi, thanks for the material but thing is I followed the steps what you provided for name-based web server but I am not able to get the output can you please provide the full clear material to my mail [email protected]

    Reply
    • @Mallikarjuna,

      What output you getting and where? could you share here so that we can provide more better solution on Apache named-based setup.

      Reply
  4. Purpose of implementing IP based virtual hosting is to assign implementing for each domain and that particular IP will not be used by any other domain. *didn’t understand*

    Reply
  5. I have tried your steps, but not able to see the output. config files are correct, services are running, selinux is disabled, still no success.

    Please let me know the step to get output. my workaround.

    [root@suman oracle]$ uname -a
    Linux suman.example.com 2.6.32-71.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Sep 1 01:33:01 EDT 2010 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
    [root@suman oracle]$
    [root@suman oracle]$ httpd -t
    Syntax OK
    [root@suman oracle]$
    [root@suman oracle]$ service httpd status
    httpd (pid  2057) is running...
    [root@suman oracle]$
    

    Example1.com output

    [root@suman oracle]$ cat /var/www/html/example1.com/index.html
    hi suman
    welcome to linux training
    

    Example1.com Output

    [root@suman oracle]$ cat /var/www/html/example2.com/index.html
    www.example2.com
    welcome to example2 website
    
    Reply
    • @Arun,

      May I know what output you getting while accessing these domains via web browser? Also could you share your VirtualHost configuration for these domains in httpd.conf file?

      Reply
  6. Hello,
    I have one domain, do I need to add my IP address of server to their control panel (for their DNS ) ?

    Do I need to install DNS server or apache is enough ?

    Thank you

    Norbert

    Reply
    • @Norbert,

      Just point the domain to IP address of the server in your Hosting DNS control panel, no need to install DNS server, onl Apache is enough to run your website..

      Reply
  7. i want to redirect my website from http to https. i changed many configuration like .htaccess file and httpd file but i am not getting solution. could help me.

    Reply
    • @Arjun,

      Create a .htaccess file in root of domain or website that you want to redirect to HTTPS and add the following rules.

      RewriteEngine On
      RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
      RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R,L]
      
      Reply
      • I have already added this code in .htaccess file in website root but i am not getting solution. i want to know you i am also unable to open website in local network from http with domain name but i able open http with ip domain address.

        Reply
        • @Arjun,

          Make sure that “AllowOverride All” is set in your httpd.conf file and also make sure you have added DNS ‘A’ record for you domain and point back to the server IP address.

          Reply
  8. No it shouldn’t be the same hostname.

    You don’t have to use the same local FQDN as your vhost FQDN(ServerName). Create an ‘CNAME’ record lets say ‘www2 CNAME http://www.example1.com‘ & put the ServerName www2.example1.com. Thats all. 8-)

    Reply
    • I expect FQDN can be example1.mycompany.com then domain is mycompany and example1 is host name. FQDN is nothing but host name along with domain name.

      Reply

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