Configure Apache for multiple domain names - Simple Application Server

If you deploy multiple independent websites for different business on a simple application server, you can modify Apache configuration files to point multiple domain names to different websites. This helps you make full use of server resources and improve management and operation efficiency.

Prerequisites

A simple application server is created from a Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (LAMP) application image. For more information, see Build a LAMP development environment.
Multiple domain names are registered. For more information about how to register a domain name with Alibaba Cloud, see Register a generic domain name.

Environment preparation

In the examples, the following resources are used:

Server: a simple application server created from the LAMP 7.4 application image.
Two test websites: test01 and test02.
Two test domain names: test01.example.com and test02.example.com.

After you complete the configurations described in this topic, you can perform the following operations:

Use test01.example.com to access the test01 website.
Use test02.example.com to access the test02 website.

In actual operations, you must replace these example resources with your own resources.

Step 1: Create test websites

If the code of your multiple websites is already stored in the root directory of websites on the server, skip this step.

Connect to the LAMP server.
For more information, see Connect to a Linux instance.
Run the following command to go to the root directory of websites.
The root directory of websites varies based on the LAMP versions in the LAMP application images used on simple application servers.
- If the LAMP 7.4 application image is used on servers, the root directory of websites is /data/wwwroot/example.
- If the LAMP 6.1.0 application image is used on servers, the root directory of websites is /home/www/htdocs.
In this example, the LAMP 7.4 application image is used. Therefore, run the following command to go to the root directory of websites:
```
cd /data/wwwroot/example
```
Run the following commands in sequence to create two subdirectories.
The subdirectories are used to store the code of websites.
```
sudo mkdir test01
```
```
sudo mkdir test02
```
Run the following command to go to the test01 subdirectory. Create a file named index.html in the test 01 subdirectory and edit the file.
1. Go to the test01 subdirectory.
```
cd /data/wwwroot/example/test01/
```
2. Run the following command to create the index.html file:
```
sudo vi index.html
```
3. Press the I key to enter the edit mode and add the following test information to the file:
```
Test page 01
```
4. Press the Esc key, enter :wq, and then press the Enter key to save and close the file.
Go to the test02 subdirectory, and create and edit the index.html file.
1. Run the following command to go to the test02 subdirectory:
```
cd /data/wwwroot/example/test02/
```
2. Run the following command to create the index.html file:
```
sudo vi index.html
```
3. Press the I key to enter the edit mode and add the following test information to the file:
```
Test page 02
```
4. Press the Esc key, enter :wq, and then press the Enter key to save and close the file.

Step 2: Modify Apache configuration files

Modify the httpd.conf configuration file.
1. Run the following command to open the httpd.conf file:
```
sudo vi /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
```
2. Press the I key to enter the edit mode and modify configurations.
  Find the following configurations:
```
# Virtual hosts
#Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
```
  Remove # from the beginning of the #Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf line.
  The line should now read: Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
3. Press the Esc key, enter :wq, and then press the Enter key to save and close the file.

Modify the vhosts.conf configuration file.

Run the following command to open the vhosts.conf configuration file:
```
sudo vi /etc/httpd/conf.d/vhost.conf
```

Press the I key to enter the edit mode and modify configurations.

You must comment out the default configurations that are enclosed by the <VirtualHost *:80></VirtualHost> tags in the file and manually add multiple domain names.

Comment out the default configuration information. The following code provides the commented out content in the default Apache virtual host configuration file (httpd-vhosts.conf):

#<VirtualHost *:80>
#    ServerAdmin webmaster@dummy-host.example.com
#    DocumentRoot "/usr/local/apache/docs/dummy-host.example.com"
#    ServerName dummy-host.example.com
#    ServerAlias www.dummy-host.example.com
#    ErrorLog "logs/dummy-host.example.com-error_log"
#    CustomLog "logs/dummy-host.example.com-access_log" common
#</VirtualHost>
#<VirtualHost *:80>
#    ServerAdmin webmaster@dummy-host2.example.com
#    DocumentRoot "/usr/local/apache/docs/dummy-host2.example.com"
#    ServerName dummy-host2.example.com
#    ErrorLog "logs/dummy-host2.example.com-error_log"
#    CustomLog "logs/dummy-host2.example.com-access_log" common
#</VirtualHost>

Add the following configurations to the end of the file:
```
<VirtualHost *:80>
     DocumentRoot "/data/wwwroot/example/test01"
     ServerName test01.example.com
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
     DocumentRoot "/data/wwwroot/example/test02"
     ServerName test02.example.com
</VirtualHost>
```
- DocumentRoot: the website directory. Specify this parameter in the DocumentRoot "<Website directory>" format.
- ServerName: the domain name. Specify this parameter in the ServerName <Domain name> format.

Press the Esc key, enter :wq, and then press the Enter key to save and close the file.

Run the following command to restart Apache:

sudo systemctl restart httpd

Step 3: Bind domain names

For the two test domain names used in this example, you must add the mappings between these domain names and the public IP address of the LAMP server to the hosts file on your Windows computer.

Note

If you use actual domain names when you configure the websites, skip this step. You must bind multiple domain names to the LAMP server. For more information, see Add and resolve a domain name. After domain names are bound, you can use the domain names to access the corresponding websites.

Go to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc directory.
Copy the hosts file for backup.
Retain the hosts - copy file, which can be used to restore the hosts file to the initial state after the test is complete.

Modify the hosts file.

Append the following content to the end of the hosts file:

<Public IP address of the simple application server> test01.example.com
<Public IP address of the simple application server> test02.example.com

Return to the Windows desktop and run the command prompt as an administrator.
Run the following command in the Command Prompt window to make the new configurations of the hosts file immediately take effect:
```
ipconfig /flushdns
```

Step 4: Access the websites by using the bound domain names

Use a browser to access the test websites on your Windows computer.

Access test01.example.com. The page displays Test page 01.
Access test02.example.com. The page displays Test page 02.

References

You can configure HTTPS access for a domain name to convert the data transmission protocol from HTTP to HTTPS at a lower cost. This implements authentication and encrypted data transmission of websites to prevent data tampering or information leaks during transmission. For more information, see the following topics: