Set Up Apache Virtual Hosts on CentOS 7 | Hostvento Knowledge Base

Tip: CentOS 7 is old. Newer systems such as AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux work in a very similar way.

What is a virtual host?

Apache is a web server program. A virtual host is a set of rules for one website. It lets one server show different sites, like one post office with many mailboxes. Visitors who ask for example.com get one site. Those who ask for another.com get another.

Steps

Log in to your server over SSH as root.
Install Apache if you do not have it:
```
yum install httpd -y
systemctl enable httpd
systemctl start httpd
```
The last two lines make Apache start on boot and start it now.

Create a folder for the site's files:

mkdir -p /var/www/example.com/public_html

Create a simple test page:

echo "Hello from example.com" > /var/www/example.com/public_html/index.html

Set the owner so Apache can read the files:

chown -R apache:apache /var/www/example.com
chmod -R 755 /var/www

Create folders for the settings files, if they do not exist:

mkdir -p /etc/httpd/sites-available /etc/httpd/sites-enabled

Tell Apache to read that folder. Open /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf with nano and add this line at the end:
```
IncludeOptional sites-enabled/*.conf
```

Make the site file /etc/httpd/sites-available/example.com.conf with this content:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com/public_html
    ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/example.com-error.log
    CustomLog /var/log/httpd/example.com-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Enable the site by linking it:

ln -s /etc/httpd/sites-available/example.com.conf /etc/httpd/sites-enabled/

Check the settings for mistakes:
```
apachectl configtest
```
You want to see "Syntax OK".
Restart Apache:
```
systemctl restart httpd
```

Open ports 80 and 443 in the firewall if it is on:

firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
firewall-cmd --reload

Point your domain's A record to the server IP, then open the domain in a browser. You should see your test page.

Repeat steps 3 to 11 for each extra website. Use a new domain name each time.

Warning: a typing mistake in the settings can stop Apache. Take a copy of httpd.conf before you change it.

Tip: If you see the default Apache page, check that ServerName matches the address you typed.

Quick recap

A virtual host lets one server show many sites.
Make a folder, a test page and a .conf file for each site.
Run apachectl configtest before restarting.
Open ports 80 and 443 and point your domain to the server.