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<p class="apache">Apache HTTP Server Version 2.4</p>
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<a href="https://www.apache.org/">Apache</a> &gt; <a href="https://httpd.apache.org/">HTTP Server</a> &gt; <a href="https://httpd.apache.org/docs/">Documentation</a> &gt; <a href="../">Version 2.4</a> &gt; <a href="./">Virtual Hosts</a></div><div id="page-content"><div id="preamble"><h1>Apache IP-based Virtual Host Support</h1>
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<div id="quickview"><ul id="toc"><li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#explanation">What is IP-based virtual hosting</a></li>
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#requirements">System requirements</a></li>
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#howto">How to set up Apache</a></li>
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#multiple">Setting up multiple daemons</a></li>
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#single">Setting up a single daemon
  with virtual hosts</a></li>
</ul><h3>See also</h3><ul class="seealso"><li>
<a href="name-based.html">Name-based Virtual Hosts Support</a>
</li></ul></div>
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<div class="section">
<h2 id="explanation">What is IP-based virtual hosting <a title="Permanent link" href="#explanation" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>
<p>IP-based virtual hosting is a method to apply different directives
based on the IP address and port a request is received on.  Most commonly,
this is used to serve different websites on different ports or interfaces.</p>

<p>In many cases, <a href="name-based.html">name-based
virtual hosts</a> are more convenient, because they allow
many virtual hosts to share a single address/port.
See <a href="name-based.html#namevip">Name-based vs. IP-based
Virtual Hosts</a> to help you decide.  </p>
</div><div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="section">
<h2 id="requirements">System requirements <a title="Permanent link" href="#requirements" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>

    <p>As the term <cite>IP-based</cite> indicates, the server
    <strong>must have a different IP address/port combination for each IP-based
    virtual host</strong>. This can be achieved by the machine
    having several physical network connections, or by use of
    virtual interfaces which are supported by most modern operating
    systems (see system documentation for details, these are
    frequently called "ip aliases", and the "ifconfig" command is
    most commonly used to set them up), and/or using multiple
    port numbers.</p>

    <p> In the terminology of Apache HTTP Server, using a single IP address
    but multiple TCP ports, is also IP-based virtual hosting.</p>

</div><div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="section">
<h2 id="howto">How to set up Apache <a title="Permanent link" href="#howto" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>

    <p>There are two ways of configuring apache to support multiple
    hosts. Either by running a separate <code class="program"><a href="../programs/httpd.html">httpd</a></code> daemon for
    each hostname, or by running a single daemon which supports all the
    virtual hosts.</p>

    <p>Use multiple daemons when:</p>

    <ul>
      <li>There are security partitioning issues, such as company1
      does not want anyone at company2 to be able to read their
      data except via the web. In this case you would need two
      daemons, each running with different <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/mod_unixd.html#user">User</a></code>, <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/mod_unixd.html#group">Group</a></code>, <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/mpm_common.html#listen">Listen</a></code>, and <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#serverroot">ServerRoot</a></code> settings.</li>

      <li>You can afford the memory and file descriptor
      requirements of listening to every IP alias on the
      machine. It's only possible to <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/mpm_common.html#listen">Listen</a></code> to the "wildcard"
      address, or to specific addresses. So if you have a need to
      listen to a specific address for whatever reason, then you
      will need to listen to all specific addresses. (Although one
      <code class="program"><a href="../programs/httpd.html">httpd</a></code> could listen to N-1 of the addresses, and another could
      listen to the remaining address.)</li>
    </ul>

    <p>Use a single daemon when:</p>

    <ul>
      <li>Sharing of the httpd configuration between virtual hosts
      is acceptable.</li>

      <li>The machine services a large number of requests, and so
      the performance loss in running separate daemons may be
      significant.</li>
    </ul>

</div><div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="section">
<h2 id="multiple">Setting up multiple daemons <a title="Permanent link" href="#multiple" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>

    <p>Create a separate <code class="program"><a href="../programs/httpd.html">httpd</a></code> installation for each
    virtual host. For each installation, use the <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/mpm_common.html#listen">Listen</a></code> directive in the
    configuration file to select which IP address (or virtual host)
    that daemon services. e.g.</p>

    <pre class="prettyprint lang-config">Listen 192.0.2.100:80</pre>


    <p>It is recommended that you use an IP address instead of a
    hostname (see <a href="../dns-caveats.html">DNS caveats</a>).</p>

</div><div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="section">
<h2 id="single">Setting up a single daemon
  with virtual hosts <a title="Permanent link" href="#single" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>

    <p>For this case, a single <code class="program"><a href="../programs/httpd.html">httpd</a></code> will service
    requests for the main server and all the virtual hosts. The <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#virtualhost">VirtualHost</a></code> directive
    in the configuration file is used to set the values of <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#serveradmin">ServerAdmin</a></code>, <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#servername">ServerName</a></code>, <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#documentroot">DocumentRoot</a></code>, <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#errorlog">ErrorLog</a></code> and <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/mod_log_config.html#transferlog">TransferLog</a></code>
    or <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/mod_log_config.html#customlog">CustomLog</a></code>
    configuration directives to different values for each virtual
    host. e.g.</p>

    <pre class="prettyprint lang-config">&lt;VirtualHost 172.20.30.40:80&gt;
    ServerAdmin webmaster@www1.example.com
    DocumentRoot "/www/vhosts/www1"
    ServerName www1.example.com
    ErrorLog "/www/logs/www1/error_log"
    CustomLog "/www/logs/www1/access_log" combined
&lt;/VirtualHost&gt;

&lt;VirtualHost 172.20.30.50:80&gt;
    ServerAdmin webmaster@www2.example.org
    DocumentRoot "/www/vhosts/www2"
    ServerName www2.example.org
    ErrorLog "/www/logs/www2/error_log"
    CustomLog "/www/logs/www2/access_log" combined
&lt;/VirtualHost&gt;</pre>


    <p>It is recommended that you use an IP address instead of a
    hostname in the &lt;VirtualHost&gt; directive
    (see <a href="../dns-caveats.html">DNS caveats</a>).</p>

    <p> Specific IP addresses or ports have precedence over their wildcard
    equivalents, and any virtual host that matches has precedence over
    the servers base configuration.</p>

    <p>Almost <strong>any</strong> configuration directive can be
    put in the VirtualHost directive, with the exception of
    directives that control process creation and a few other
    directives. To find out if a directive can be used in the
    VirtualHost directive, check the <a href="../mod/directive-dict.html#Context">Context</a> using the
    <a href="../mod/quickreference.html">directive index</a>.</p>

    <p><code class="directive"><a href="../mod/mod_suexec.html#suexecusergroup">SuexecUserGroup</a></code>
    may be used inside a
    VirtualHost directive if the <a href="../suexec.html">suEXEC
    wrapper</a> is used.</p>

    <p><em>SECURITY:</em> When specifying where to write log files,
    be aware of some security risks which are present if anyone
    other than the user that starts Apache has write access to the
    directory where they are written. See the <a href="../misc/security_tips.html">security tips</a> document
    for details.</p>

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