home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>
- <!DOCTYPE manualpage SYSTEM "../style/manualpage.dtd">
- <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="../style/manual.en.xsl"?>
- <!-- $Revision: 1.5.2.9 $ -->
-
- <!--
- Copyright 2002-2004 The Apache Software Foundation
-
- Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
- you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
- You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
- http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
- Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- limitations under the License.
- -->
-
- <manualpage metafile="name-based.xml.meta">
- <parentdocument href="./">Virtual Hosts</parentdocument>
- <title>Name-based Virtual Host Support</title>
-
- <summary>
- <p>This document describes when and how to use name-based virtual hosts.</p>
- </summary>
-
- <seealso><a href="ip-based.html">IP-based Virtual Host Support</a></seealso>
- <seealso><a href="details.html">An In-Depth Discussion of Virtual Host Matching</a></seealso>
- <seealso><a href="mass.html">Dynamically configured mass virtual hosting</a></seealso>
- <seealso><a href="examples.html">Virtual Host examples for common setups</a></seealso>
- <seealso><a href="examples.html#serverpath">ServerPath configuration example</a></seealso>
-
- <section id="namevip"><title>Name-based vs. IP-based Virtual Hosts</title>
-
- <p>IP-based virtual hosts use the IP address of the connection to
- determine the correct virtual host to serve. Therefore you need to
- have a separate IP address for each host. With name-based virtual
- hosting, the server relies on the client to report the hostname as
- part of the HTTP headers. Using this technique, many different hosts
- can share the same IP address.</p>
-
- <p>Name-based virtual hosting is usually simpler, since you need
- only configure your DNS server to map each hostname to the correct
- IP address and then configure the Apache HTTP Server to recognize
- the different hostnames. Name-based virtual hosting also eases
- the demand for scarce IP addresses. Therefore you should use
- name-based virtual hosting unless there is a specific reason to
- choose IP-based virtual hosting. Some reasons why you might consider
- using IP-based virtual hosting:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>Some ancient clients are not compatible with name-based virtual
- hosting. For name-based virtual hosting to work, the client must send
- the HTTP Host header. This is required by HTTP/1.1, and is
- implemented by all modern HTTP/1.0 browsers as an extension. If you
- need to support obsolete clients and still use name-based virtual
- hosting, a possible technique is discussed at the end of this
- document.</li>
-
- <li>Name-based virtual hosting cannot be used with SSL secure servers
- because of the nature of the SSL protocol.</li>
-
- <li>Some operating systems and network equipment implement bandwidth
- management techniques that cannot differentiate between hosts unless
- they are on separate IP addresses.</li>
- </ul>
-
- </section>
-
- <section id="using"><title>Using Name-based Virtual Hosts</title>
-
- <related>
- <modulelist>
- <module>core</module>
- </modulelist>
-
- <directivelist>
- <directive module="core">DocumentRoot</directive>
- <directive module="core">NameVirtualHost</directive>
- <directive module="core">ServerAlias</directive>
- <directive module="core">ServerName</directive>
- <directive module="core">ServerPath</directive>
- <directive module="core" type="section">VirtualHost</directive>
- </directivelist>
- </related>
-
- <p>To use name-based virtual hosting, you must designate the IP
- address (and possibly port) on the server that will be accepting
- requests for the hosts. This is configured using the <directive
- module="core">NameVirtualHost</directive> directive.
- In the normal case where any and all IP addresses on the server should
- be used, you can use <code>*</code> as the argument to <directive
- module="core">NameVirtualHost</directive>. If you're planning to use
- multiple ports (e.g. running SSL) you should add a Port to the argument,
- such as <code>*:80</code>. Note that mentioning an IP address in a
- <directive module="core">NameVirtualHost</directive> directive does not
- automatically make the server listen to that IP address. See
- <a href="../bind.html">Setting which addresses and ports Apache uses</a>
- for more details. In addition, any IP address specified here must be
- associated with a network interface on the server.</p>
-
- <p>The next step is to create a <directive type="section"
- module="core">VirtualHost</directive> block for
- each different host that you would like to serve. The argument to the
- <directive type="section" module="core">VirtualHost</directive> directive
- should be the same as the argument to the <directive
- module="core">NameVirtualHost</directive> directive (ie, an IP address,
- or <code>*</code> for all addresses). Inside each <directive type="section"
- module="core">VirtualHost</directive> block, you will need at minimum a
- <directive module="core">ServerName</directive> directive to designate
- which host is served and a <directive module="core">DocumentRoot</directive>
- directive to show where in the filesystem the content for that host
- lives.</p>
-
- <note><title>Main host goes away</title>
- <p>If you are adding virtual hosts to an existing web server, you
- must also create a <directive type="section" module="core"
- >VirtualHost</directive> block for the existing host. The <directive
- module="core">ServerName</directive> and <directive module="core"
- >DocumentRoot</directive> included in this virtual host should be the
- same as the global <directive module="core">ServerName</directive> and
- <directive module="core">DocumentRoot</directive>. List this virtual
- host first in the configuration file so that it will act as the default
- host.</p>
- </note>
-
- <p>For example, suppose that you are serving the domain
- <code>www.domain.tld</code> and you wish to add the virtual host
- <code>www.otherdomain.tld</code>, which points at the same IP address.
- Then you simply add the following to <code>httpd.conf</code>:</p>
-
- <example>
- NameVirtualHost *:80<br />
- <br />
- <VirtualHost *:80><br />
- <indent>
- ServerName www.domain.tld<br />
- ServerAlias domain.tld *.domain.tld<br />
- DocumentRoot /www/domain<br />
- </indent>
- </VirtualHost><br />
- <br />
- <VirtualHost *:80><br />
- <indent>ServerName www.otherdomain.tld<br />
- DocumentRoot /www/otherdomain<br />
- </indent>
- </VirtualHost><br />
- </example>
-
- <p>You can alternatively specify an explicit IP address in place of the
- <code>*</code> in both the <directive module="core"
- >NameVirtualHost</directive> and <directive type="section" module="core"
- >VirtualHost</directive> directives. For example, you might want to do this
- in order to run some name-based virtual hosts on one IP address, and either
- IP-based, or another set of name-based virtual hosts on another address.</p>
-
- <p>Many servers want to be accessible by more than one name. This is
- possible with the <directive module="core">ServerAlias</directive>
- directive, placed inside the <directive type="section" module="core"
- >VirtualHost</directive> section. For example in the first <directive
- type="section" module="core">VirtualHost</directive> block above, the
- <directive module="core">ServerAlias</directive> directive indicates that
- the listed names are other names which people can use to see that same
- web site:</p>
-
- <example>
- ServerAlias domain.tld *.domain.tld
- </example>
-
- <p>then requests for all hosts in the <code>domain.tld</code> domain will
- be served by the <code>www.domain.tld</code> virtual host. The wildcard
- characters <code>*</code> and <code>?</code> can be used to match names.
- Of course, you can't just make up names and place them in <directive
- module="core">ServerName</directive> or <code>ServerAlias</code>. You must
- first have your DNS server properly configured to map those names to an IP
- address associated with your server.</p>
-
- <p>Finally, you can fine-tune the configuration of the virtual hosts
- by placing other directives inside the <directive type="section"
- module="core">VirtualHost</directive> containers. Most directives can be
- placed in these containers and will then change the configuration only of
- the relevant virtual host. To find out if a particular directive is allowed,
- check the <a href="../mod/directive-dict.html#Context">Context</a> of the
- directive. Configuration directives set in the <em>main server context</em>
- (outside any <directive type="section" module="core">VirtualHost</directive>
- container) will be used only if they are not overridden by the virtual host
- settings.</p>
-
- <p>Now when a request arrives, the server will first check if it is using
- an IP address that matches the <directive module="core"
- >NameVirtualHost</directive>. If it is, then it will look at each <directive
- type="section" module="core">VirtualHost</directive> section with a matching
- IP address and try to find one where the <directive module="core"
- >ServerName</directive> or <code>ServerAlias</code> matches the requested
- hostname. If it finds one, then it uses the configuration for that server.
- If no matching virtual host is found, then <strong>the first listed virtual
- host</strong> that matches the IP address will be used.</p>
-
- <p>As a consequence, the first listed virtual host is the <em>default</em>
- virtual host. The <directive module="core">DocumentRoot</directive> from
- the <em>main server</em> will <strong>never</strong> be used when an IP
- address matches the <directive module="core">NameVirtualHost</directive>
- directive. If you would like to have a special configuration for requests
- that do not match any particular virtual host, simply put that configuration
- in a <directive type="section" module="core">VirtualHost</directive>
- container and list it first in the configuration file.</p>
-
- </section>
-
- <section id="compat"><title>Compatibility with Older Browsers</title>
-
- <p>As mentioned earlier, there are some clients
- who do not send the required data for the name-based virtual
- hosts to work properly. These clients will always be sent the
- pages from the first virtual host listed for that IP address
- (the <cite>primary</cite> name-based virtual host).</p>
-
- <note><title>How much older?</title>
- <p>Please note that when we say older, we really do mean older. You are
- very unlikely to encounter one of these browsers in use today. All
- current versions of any browser send the <code>Host</code> header as
- required for name-based virtual hosts.</p>
- </note>
-
- <p>There is a possible workaround with the <directive
- module="core">ServerPath</directive>
- directive, albeit a slightly cumbersome one:</p>
-
- <p>Example configuration:</p>
-
- <example>
- NameVirtualHost 111.22.33.44<br />
- <br />
- <VirtualHost 111.22.33.44><br />
- <indent>
- ServerName www.domain.tld<br />
- ServerPath /domain<br />
- DocumentRoot /web/domain<br />
- </indent>
- </VirtualHost><br />
- </example>
-
- <p>What does this mean? It means that a request for any URI
- beginning with "<code>/domain</code>" will be served from the
- virtual host <code>www.domain.tld</code>. This means that the
- pages can be accessed as <code>http://www.domain.tld/domain/</code>
- for all clients, although clients sending a <code>Host:</code> header
- can also access it as <code>http://www.domain.tld/</code>.</p>
-
- <p>In order to make this work, put a link on your primary
- virtual host's page to
- <code>http://www.domain.tld/domain/</code>. Then, in the virtual
- host's pages, be sure to use either purely relative links
- (<em>e.g.</em>, "<code>file.html</code>" or
- "<code>../icons/image.gif</code>") or links containing the
- prefacing <code>/domain/</code> (<em>e.g.</em>,
- "<code>http://www.domain.tld/domain/misc/file.html</code>" or
- "<code>/domain/misc/file.html</code>").</p>
-
- <p>This requires a bit of discipline, but adherence to these
- guidelines will, for the most part, ensure that your pages will
- work with all browsers, new and old.</p>
-
- </section>
- </manualpage>
-