Archive: Install Apache and Create Virtual Hosts in Ubuntu and CentOS

If you are reading this chances are you are looking on how to host multiple websites on a single server.

This guide is going to cover installing Apache2 and creating multiple virtual hosts, for different domains and / or subdomains. I will show examples in Ubuntu and CentOS. I started with a fresh install of both operating systems for this tutorial.

Note: I never suggest logging in as root. I would also run the service as a non-root user.

Ubuntu

Step 1: Install Apache2

sudo apt-get install apache2

Step 2: Create Directory Structure
Personally I like the directory structure organized so I would do something like below.

sudo mkdir /var/www/domain1.com
sudo mkdir /var/www/domain2.com

Step 3: Create/Edit Your Virtual Hosts
For this example you can just copy and paste the code below for each of your domains.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/domain1.com

Be sure to change the information to your specific info.

<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerAdmin [email protected]
        ServerName domain1.com
        ServerAlias www.domain1.com domain1.com

        DocumentRoot /var/www/domain1.com

        <Directory /var/www/domain1.com/>
                Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
                AllowOverride all
                Order allow,deny
                allow from all
        </Directory>

        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/domain1.com-error.log
        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/domain1.com-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Then repeat for additional domains.

Step 4: Enabling Your Virtual Hosts
For each file you created above run the following command.

sudo a2ensite domain1.com

Once you have enabled all of your virtual hosts you then run.

sudo service apache2 reload

As long as your domains are pointed to your network and port 80 is open your domains should be directed to the correct virtual host.

CentOS

Step 1: Install httpd

sudo yum install httpd

Step 2: Have Apache Start at Boot

sudo chkconfig -levels 235 httpd on
sudo service httpd start

or with CentOS 7

sudo systemctl enable httpd
sudo systemctl start httpd

Step 3: Create Your Directory Structure

sudo mkdir /var/www/domain1.com
sudo mkdir /var/www/domain2.com

Repeat for any additional sites.

Step 4: Configure Your Virtual Hosts
Open the httpd.conf

sudo vi /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Add the following lines to the bottom of httpd.conf be sure to hit “i” to insert text.

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    ServerName www.domain1.com
    ServerAlias www.domain1.com domain1.com

    Document Root /www/domain1.com

    ErrorLog logs/domain1.com-error.log
    CustomLog logs/domain1.com-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Repeat for each additional host you want to add.

Save the file by hitting Esc and typing:

:wq

Step 5: Restart the Apache HTTPD

sudo service httpd restart

or in CentOS 7

sudo systemctl restart httpd