Date: 12/04/05 (Apache)    Keywords: php, html, web, yahoo, google, apache

I am beginning to work on multiple sites on my home test server and need to set up virtual hosts. 

My server is running SuSE 10 with Apache 2, and is accessed by typing in "talon" in firefox's address bar.  I copied vhosts.template to site1.conf and edited it as follows:

# # VirtualHost template # Note: to use the template, rename it to /etc/apache2/vhost.d/yourvhost.conf. # Files must have the .conf suffix to be loaded. # # See /usr/share/doc/packages/apache2/README.QUICKSTART for further hints # about virtual hosts. # # Almost any Apache directive may go into a VirtualHost container. # The first VirtualHost section is used for requests without a known # server name. # <VirtualHost *:80>     ServerAdmin deathrockadrya@yahoo.com     ServerName site1.talon     # DocumentRoot: The directory out of which you will serve your     # documents. By default, all requests are taken from this directory, but     # symbolic links and aliases may be used to point to other locations.     DocumentRoot /srv/www/vhosts/site1     # if not specified, the global error log is used     ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/site1     # CustomLog /var/log/apache2/site1      # don't loose time with IP address lookups     HostnameLookups Off     # needed for named virtual hosts     UseCanonicalName Off     # configures the footer on server-generated documents     ServerSignature On     # Optionally, include *.conf files from /etc/apache2/conf.d/     #     # For example, to allow execution of PHP scripts:     #     # Include /etc/apache2/conf.d/mod_php4.conf     #     # or, to include all configuration snippets added by packages:     # Include /etc/apache2/conf.d/*.conf     # ScriptAlias: This controls which directories contain server scripts.     # ScriptAliases are essentially the same as Aliases, except that     # documents in the realname directory are treated as applications and     # run by the server when requested rather than as documents sent to the client.     # The same rules about trailing "/" apply to ScriptAlias directives as to     # Alias.     #     ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/srv/www/vhosts/site1/cgi-bin/"     # "/srv/www/cgi-bin" should be changed to whatever your ScriptAliased     # CGI directory exists, if you have one, and where ScriptAlias points to.     #     <Directory "/srv/www/vhosts/site1/cgi-bin">         AllowOverride None         Options +ExecCGI -Includes         Order allow,deny         Allow from all     </Directory>     # UserDir: The name of the directory that is appended onto a user's home     # directory if a ~user request is received.     #     # To disable it, simply remove userdir from the list of modules in APACHE_MODULES     # in /etc/sysconfig/apache2.     #     <IfModule mod_userdir.c>         # Note that the name of the user directory ("public_html") cannot simply be         # changed here, since it is a compile time setting. The apache package         # would have to be rebuilt. You could work around by deleting         # /usr/sbin/suexec, but then all scripts from the directories would be         # executed with the UID of the webserver.         UserDir public_html         # The actual configuration of the directory is in         # /etc/apache2/mod_userdir.conf.         Include /etc/apache2/mod_userdir.conf         # You can, however, change the ~ if you find it awkward, by mapping e.g.         # http://www.example.com/users/karl-heinz/ --> /home/karl-heinz/public_html/         #AliasMatch ^/users/([a-zA-Z0-9-_.]*)/?(.*) /home/$1/public_html/$2     </IfModule>     #     # This should be changed to whatever you set DocumentRoot to.     #     <Directory "/srv/www/vhosts/site1">             #         # Possible values for the Options directive are "None", "All",         # or any combination of:         #  Indexes Includes FollowSymLinks SymLinksifOwnerMatch ExecCGI MultiViews         #         # Note that "MultiViews" must be named *explicitly* --- "Options All"         # doesn't give it to you.         #         # The Options directive is both complicated and important.  Please see         # http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/mod/core.html#options         # for more information.         #         Options Indexes FollowSymLinks             #         # AllowOverride controls what directives may be placed in .htaccess files.         # It can be "All", "None", or any combination of the keywords:         #  Options FileInfo AuthConfig Limit         #         AllowOverride None             #         # Controls who can get stuff from this server.         #         Order allow,deny         Allow from all         </Directory> </VirtualHost>

Next I opened /etc/hosts and edited as follows:

# # hosts        This file describes a number of hostname-to-address #              mappings for the TCP/IP subsystem.  It is mostly #              used at boot time, when no name servers are running. #              On small systems, this file can be used instead of a #              "named" name server. # Syntax: #    # IP-Address  Full-Qualified-Hostname  Short-Hostname # 127.0.0.1        localhost 127.0.0.1        site1      site1.talon 127.0.0.1        site2      site2.talon 127.0.0.1        site3      site3.talon

Then, rcrestart apache2.... ok.

And here is where I am stumped..  (and btw I googled the bit about /etc/hosts - i'm not sure if that's how it should be).    If I type in http://talon/site1 Apache says page can't be found.  If I try http://site1 page can't be found.    My site1 files exist in the DocumentRoot listed in the site1.conf file above. 

I also read through apache's documentation on virtual hosts but the way they explained it didn't make as much sense to me. 

Thanks for any and all help.. I've wanted to learn vhosts for some time now. 

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/apache/27604.html