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Francis Ndungu

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How to Host Multiple Websites with Apache on Ubuntu 24.04

Introduction

Apache virtual hosts allow hosting multiple websites on a single server by creating individual configuration files for each site and pointing them to specific directories. This setup saves costs by eliminating the need for separate servers, efficiently utilizes server resources, and simplifies management tasks. By centralizing updates, file management, and performance monitoring, Apache Virtual Hosts provide a cost-effective, efficient, and manageable solution for running multiple websites.

This guide shows you how to host multiple websites with Apache on Ubuntu 24.04.

Prerequisites

Ubuntu 24.04 server. We recommend a Digital Ocean VPS server.
A non-root user with sudo privileges
Apache webserver. Follow our guide on How to Install Apache On Ubuntu 24.04.

Set Up Directory Structure for Websites

For each website you intend to host on your Apache web server, you should create the correct directories and set up the appropriate permissions. This guide intends to run the following websites:

example.com
example.info
example.net

Follow the steps below:

Create three directories in the root directory of your webserver.

console

$ sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com/public_html
$ sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.info/public_html
$ sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.net/public_html

Take ownership of the new directories.

console

$ sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/example.com/public_html
$ sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/example.info/public_html
$ sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/example.net/public_html

Set the appropriate permissions for the directories.

console

$ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/example.com/public_html
$ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/example.info/public_html
$ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/example.net/public_html

Ensure any files or new directories that you create inside the above base directories inherit the permissions.

console

$ sudo find /var/www/example.com/public_html -type d -exec chmod g+s {} \;
$ sudo find /var/www/example.info/public_html -type d -exec chmod g+s {} \;
$ sudo find /var/www/example.net/public_html -type d -exec chmod g+s {} \;

Set Up Virtual Host Files for Websites

For each website that you intend to run, you must set up a virtual host file.

example.com:

Create a new /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.com.conf file
console
```
$ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.com.conf
```

Enter the following information.

ApacheConf

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin admin@example.com
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com/public_html
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
<Directory /var/www/example.com/public_html>
    Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews
    AllowOverride All          
    Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

example.info:

Create a new /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.info.conf file
console
```
$ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.info.conf
```

Enter the following information.

ApacheConf

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin admin@example.info
    ServerName example.info
    ServerAlias www.example.info
    DocumentRoot /var/www/example.info/public_html
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
<Directory /var/www/example.info/public_html>
    Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews
    AllowOverride All          
    Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

example.net:

Create a new /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.net.conf file
console
```
$ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.net.conf
```

Enter the following information.

ApacheConf

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin admin@example.net
    ServerName example.net
    ServerAlias www.example.net
    DocumentRoot /var/www/example.net/public_html
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
<Directory /var/www/example.net/public_html>
    Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews
    AllowOverride All          
    Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Enable the virtual host configurations for each website.

console

$ sudo a2ensite example.com.conf
$ sudo a2ensite example.info.conf
$ sudo a2ensite example.net.conf

Disable the default virtual host.
console
```
$ sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf
```
Restart Apache to load the new changes.
console
```
$ sudo systemctl restart apache2
```

Create Sample Home Pages for Websites

Create a sample home page for each website you intend to run with the Apache server.

example.com:

Create a new /var/www/example.com/public_html/index.html file.

console

$ sudo nano /var/www/example.com/public_html/index.html

* Paste the information below in the file.

HTML

<html>
<head>
    <title>example.com</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>This is a sample page for example.com website</h1>
</body>
</html>

example.info:

Create a new /var/www/example.info/public_html/index.html file.
console
```
$ sudo nano /var/www/example.info/public_html/index.html
```

Paste the information below in the file.

HTML

<html>
<head>
    <title>example.info/title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>This is a sample page for example.info website</h1>
</body>
</html>

example.net:

Create a new /var/www/example.net/public_html/index.html file.
console
```
$ sudo nano /var/www/example.net/public_html/index.html
```

Paste the information below in the file.

HTML

<html>
<head>
    <title>example.net/title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>This is a sample page for example.net website</h1>
</body>
</html>

Edit your Local Computer Hosts File

On your local computer, add the example.com, example.net, and example.info sample domain names to your hosts file and point the domain names to your server's public IP address.

If you are running Windows, follow the steps below.

Edit the c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts file and remember to replace 192.88.99.1 with the public IP address associated with your Ubuntu server.

INI

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
...

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
#             127.0.0.1       localhost
#             ::1             localhost
192.88.99.1 example.com
192.88.99.1 example.info
192.88.99.1 example.net
...

Save the file and visit each domain name on your browsers, you should see different web content for each domain.
- example.com:
```
http://example.com
```
- example.info:
```
http://example.info
```
- example.net:
```
http://example.net
```

Conclusion

In this guide, you've configured multiple websites using Apache Virtual Hosts. You have set up different domain names, created separate configuration files for each site, and pointed them to their respective directories. To further enhance these websites, consider buying a domain name from a domain registrar and point the domain names A records to your server's public IP address.

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