Apache HTTP Server Version 2.0

Apache Virtual Host documentation

The term Virtual Host refers to the practice of running more than one web site (such as www.company1.com and www.company2.com) on a single machine. Virtual hosts can be "IP-based," meaning that you have a different IP address for every web site, or "name-based," meaning that you have multiple names running on a single IP address. The fact that they are running on the same server is not apparent to the end user.

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.

Virtual Host Support

• Name-based Virtual Hosts (One IP address, multiple web sites)
• IP-based Virtual Hosts (An IP address for each web site)
• Virtual Host examples for common setups
• File Descriptor Limits (or, Too many log files)
• Dynamically Configured Mass Virtual Hosting
• In-Depth Discussion of Virtual Host Matching

Configuration directives

• <VirtualHost>
• NameVirtualHost
• ServerName
• ServerAlias
• ServerPath
• See also mod_vhost_alias

If you are trying to debug your virtual host configuration, you may find the Apache -t -D DUMP_VHOSTS command line switch useful. That is, type the following command:

/usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -t -D DUMP_VHOSTS