How to Configure Virtual Server or Multiple Sites with Apache Ubuntu Any Linux

Most likely, you utilize Apache’s virtual host files to specify which domain should be served out if you are hosting multiple websites on a single server. One way to handle site requests is through name-based virtual hosts. This implies that when a user visits your website, a request is sent to the server, which uses the domain name to decide which site’s files to provide. You can host numerous websites on a single server using the same IP by using this strategy. In this guide

Step 1: Make a Directory for Each Site

You’ll create a directory for each site that you’ll be hosting, within the /var/www folder.  This location newly created location is also dubbed the document root location; you’ll need to set this path later in the configuration file.  Sub the domain.com and domain2.com for your domain names.

mkdir -p /var/www/yoursite.com/public_html

mkdir -p /var/www/yoursite2.com/public_html

Step 2: Set Folder Permissions

chmod -R 755 /var/www

Step 3: Set up an Index Page

To see a home page you’ll want to make sure the index.html file is created for each domain.  Something as simple as “testing for yoursite.com” can be set within this file.

vim /var/www/domain.com/public_html/index.html

testing for domain.com

Save and quit by hitting the Escape button and typing :wq

Repeat the steps for your second domain, using the command below.

vim /var/www/domain2.com/public_html/index.html

Step 4: Copy the Config File for Each Site

Copy the default configuration file for each site, this will also ensure that you always have a default copy for future site creation.

cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/yoursite.com.conf

cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/yoursite2.com.conf

Step 5: Edit the Config File for Each Site

At the bare minimum, you’ll adjust and add the highlighted lines within the <VirtualHost *:80> and </VirtualHost> tags.

vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/domain.com.conf

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin [email protected]
ServerName yoursite.com
ServerAlias www.yoursite.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/yoursite.com/public_html
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Quit and Save with :wq. Repeat this process for your domain2.com.conf file, be sure to update your ServerName, ServerAlias and DocumentRoot for your second domain. This is all part of the setup for you Apache server name or names.

Step 6: Enable Your Config File

Out of the box, your server (your Apache server name) is set to read the default 000-default.conf file.  But, in our previous step we made a new config file for each domain.  So, we will need to disable the default file.

a2dissite 000-default.confTo have your server mapped to your domains you’ll need to enable each of your newly made .conf files.

a2ensite yoursite.com.conf

a2ensite yoursite2.com.conf

We restart the Apache service to register our changes.

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 7: Verify Apache Configurations for your Apache Server Name

After starting Apache (your specific Apache server name) you now can view that the configurations are working by either editing your /etc/host file on your computer or by editing your domain’s DNS.

After either one of these aspects are set, you’ll be able to visit your website in a browser to see the index.html pages set in Step 3. Congratulations on learning how to host multiple sites on one server!