Apache Virtual Host documentation

The term Virtual Host refers to the practice of maintaining more than one server on one machine, as differentiated by their apparent hostname. For example, it is often desirable for companies sharing a web server to have their own domains, with web servers accessible as www.company1.com and www.company2.com, without requiring the user to know any extra path information.

Apache was one of the first servers to support IP-based virtual hosts right out of the box. Versions 1.1 and later of Apache support both, IP-based and name-based virtual hosts (vhosts). The latter variant of virtual hosts is sometimes also called host-based or non-IP virtual hosts.

Below is a list of documentation pages which explain all details of virtual host support in Apache version 1.3 and later.

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Virtual Host Support

• Name-based Virtual Hosts
• IP-based Virtual Hosts
• Virtual Host examples for common setups
• In-Depth Discussion of Virtual Host Matching
• File Descriptor Limits
• Dynamically Configured Mass Virtual Hosting

Configuration directives

• <VirtualHost>
• NameVirtualHost
• ServerName
• ServerAlias
• ServerPath

Folks trying to debug their virtual host configuration may find the Apache -S command line switch useful. It will dump out a description of how Apache parsed the configuration file. Careful examination of the IP addresses and server names may help uncover configuration mistakes.

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Apache HTTP Server Version 1.3