How to configure Apache virtual hosting in Ubuntu Karmic 9.10

Edited 3/8/11

Before you do anything, back up your original config files. I used to just create a copy of the files with the suffix “.bak” (sudo cp example.conf example.conf.bak), which works, but creates a lot of clutter. Now I use a great little utility called etckeeper which automatically places all files in /etc under version control using Bazaar. It also automatically performs a commit each day if you forget to. You can get etckeeper by typing this in the terminal: sudo apt-get install etckeeper.

Update, 3/29/10

I just had to do this from scratch after a computer disaster, and I found an omission. Before you get started on this business you need to do what this post says:

http://likesalmon.net/use-your-users-public_html-directory-to-serve-webpages/

Better yet, use this one:

http://likesalmon.net/serve-web-pages-from-your-home-directory-in-ubuntu-10-04/

And we’re off

Now on to virtual hosts. The first thing you need to do is edit /etc/hosts so your computer knows where to look for your website:

1. In the terminal, enter: $ sudo gedit /etc/hosts
2. In gedit, add the following line to the hosts file: 127.0.0.1 mysite.dev
   • Note: you can use whatever name you want for your virtual hosted site. I like to use the suffix .dev because it won’t conflict with sites on the actual internet.
   • Note: 127.0.0.1 is the same ip address that is assigned to localhost in that file. If yours is different, use that one.

Next add your site to /etc/apache2/sites-available/ and then link to that file in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/:

1. In the terminal, cd to /etc/apache2/sites-available/
2. Create a new file with: $ sudo touch mysite.dev
3. Open that file in gedit: $ sudo gedit mysite.dev
4. Add following to that file:
   <VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerName mysite.dev
   ServerAlias mysite.dev
   ServerAdmin myaddress@email.com
   DocumentRoot /home/yourusername/public_html/mysite/
   </VirtualHost>

Add a pseudo link to that file in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/:

1. cd over to /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/
2. In the terminal, enter: $ sudo ln -s ../sites-enabled/mysite.dev mysite.dev
   • Note on creating pseudo links: $ ln -s target linkname

Finally, restart Apache:

1. $ sudo service apache2 restart
2. You’re done!

See! Not so bad…