[PLUG] apache virtual host setups

[Michael Rasmussen]

Josh Orchard wrote:
> Rasmussen example:
> > <VirtualHost *>
> > ServerName www.patch.com
> > DocumentRoot /var/www/patch
> > </VirtualHost>
> 
> Ok, just getting back to this.  I guess what I didn't understand was
> how the IP worked in the Virtual Host.  Now I did read the link but
> then I also read all these warnings from Apache here:
> 
> http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/dns-caveats.html
> 
> Now these are dated 1997 and not updated for the 2.0 release.  I can't
> tell if they are a big deal anymore.  This was my concern.  

The warnings do apply.  Consider the differences between:

<VirtualHost www.patch.com>
  <config statements>
</VirtualHost>

   and 

<VirtualHost *>
  <config statements>
</VirtualHost>

   and

<VirtualHost 199.88.144.12>
  <config statements>
</VirtualHost>

In the first example Apache needs to do DNS resolution to find out 
what the IP address of www.patch.com is, the second doesn't care 
and will apply to all IP addresses configured on the computer,
the third will only apply to requests that arrive at 199.88.144.12.

The IP address, or equivalent, in the <VirtualHost ...> tag instructs
Apache about what IP address(es) it should apply the block of directives
to. Note that the tag can contain multiple addresses.

For example:

<VirtualHost 199.88.144.12, 10.1.1.12>
    ServerAdmin webmaster at host.foo.com
	DocumentRoot /www/docs/host.foo.com
	ServerName host.foo.com
	ErrorLog logs/host.foo.com-error_log
	TransferLog logs/host.foo.com-access_log
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost 127.0.0.1>
	 ServerAdmin developer at host.foo.com
	 DocumentRoot /www/docs/test.foo.com
	 ServerName host.foo.com
	 ErrorLog logs/test.foo.com-error_log
	 TransferLog logs/test.foo.com-access_log
</VirtualHost>

A developer can access host.foo.com from the local box and be directed
to a test tree of the site and it's content. Any other request for
host.foo.com - that will arrive on one of the two interfaces not local -
will be directed to the real site content.  

Full explanation at:
  http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/mod/core.html#virtualhost


-- 
    Michael Rasmussen, Portland Oregon  
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