Why might Apache ignore a virtual host with a ServerName matching the requested URL?

Question

I'm trying to add a second virtual host to my apache configuration, but cannot seem to get the new virtual host to be used.

My httpd.conf just contains the following line:

ServerName radiofreebrighton.org.uk

I also have a ports.conf file, which contains the following:

NameVirtualHost *:80
Listen 80

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
    Listen 443
</IfModule>

I have two files in sites-available which were symlinked to sites-enabled by a2ensite:

radiofreebrighton.org.uk
trafalgararches.co.uk

The contents of the first is:

<VirtualHost _default_:80>
    DocumentRoot /home/tom/www

    ServerAdmin tom@radiofreebrighton.org.uk
    ServerName radiofreebrighton.org.uk
    ServerAlias www.radiofreebrighton.org.uk

    <Directory /home/tom/www/>
            Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
            AllowOverride All
            Order allow,deny
            allow from all
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log
    LogLevel error
    CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined

    Alias /wiki /home/tom/www/mediawiki/index.php
</VirtualHost>

The contents of the latter is:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot /home/tom/tata-www

    ServerAdmin admin@trafalgararches.co.uk
    ServerName trafalgararches.co.uk
    ServerAlias www.trafalgararches.co.uk

    <Directory /home/tom/tata-www/>
            Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
            AllowOverride All
            Order allow,deny
            allow from all
    </Directory>

    logLevel error
    ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log
</VirtualHost>

But any time I request a page from trafalgararches.co.uk, I am given a page from radiofreebrighton.org.uk. Why might this be happening? How can I fix it?

Edit:

Virtual host configuration as understood by apache:

tom@rfb:/usr/local$ apache2ctl -S
VirtualHost configuration:
wildcard NameVirtualHosts and _default_ servers:
*:80                   is a NameVirtualHost
         default server radiofreebrighton.org.uk (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/radiofreebrighton.org.uk:1)
         port 80 namevhost radiofreebrighton.org.uk (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/radiofreebrighton.org.uk:1)
         port 80 namevhost trafalgararches.co.uk (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/trafalgararches.co.uk:1)
Syntax OK

(Gleaned via apache2ctl -S aka httpd -S.)

score 18 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 09 '20 at 03:01

This may be obvious, but don't forget to restart the apache service after enabling additional virtual host.

After executing a2ensite for the second virtual host, the output of apache2ctl -S reflects that both sites are configured (and one of them is the default), but it won't be live until you reload apache.

Let's say you have two virtual hosts - site1 and site2. You run a2ensite site1 and then reload apache service. Now you can access http://site1 and it is the default. Now you run a2ensite site2, but forget to restart apache. The output of apache2ctl -S will be:

VirtualHost configuration:
wildcard NameVirtualHosts and _default_ servers:
*:80                   is a NameVirtualHost
         default server site1 (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/site1:1)
         port 80 namevhost site1 (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/site1:1)
         port 80 namevhost site2 (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/site2:1)
Syntax OK

But when you try to load http://site2, it will actually load the default site (site1), since the configuration isn't loaded.

score 16 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 18 '12 at 17:17

I had a similar problem where my additional vhosts on port 443 (SSL/HTTPS) were all being directed to the directory of the first vhost listed. Apache was essentially ignoring the servername property and matching on the ip:port only.

Turns out that I was missing the command 'NameVirtualHost *:443' to enable Named virtual hosting for port 443.

'NameVirtualHost *:443' just needs to be called once, and must be defined above your vhosts for port 443. I put my definition in the ports.config file so it looks like:

NameVirtualHost *:80
Listen 80

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
    NameVirtualHost *:443
    Listen 443
</IfModule>

<IfModule mod_gnutls.c>
    NameVirtualHost *:443
    Listen 443
</IfModule>

Don't forget to restart apache after any changes.

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 29 '16 at 13:15

My 2 cents: as I have to stick with an IP (I don't want the site to be served on all networks installed), it happened that after the local private IP of the server changed, I forgot to change it here:

NameVirtualHost 192.168.100.20:80 <VirtualHost 192.168.100.20:80>

Of course it's not an Apache problem to let you know that IP does not exist locally.

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 08 '11 at 13:41

Tom, please look here http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/en/mod/core.html#namevirtualhost

Note

Note, that the "main server" and any default servers will never be served for a request to a NameVirtualHost IP address (unless for some reason you specify NameVirtualHost but then don't define any VirtualHosts for that address).

So it should be okay if you change the default to the ip-adress of your server.

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 06 '19 at 17:37

I discovered the source of this problem was an /etc/hosts entry on my server with the URL in it pointing to the server's external IP.

At one point I must have been setting it up before DNS was ready so I entered a /etc/hosts entry on my server pointing to its own external IP:

1.2.3.4  vhost.example.com

Then i set up a ServerAlias to an existing site for "vhost.example.com"

But nothing I could do would stop Apache serving up the default-ssl.conf site for SSL requests to vhost.example.com. Port 80 HTTP worked OK, but the SSL always showed the default site instead. In the end this SO thread led me to try "apachectl -S" which shows sites and finally I was able to figure it out.

So if you're getting the default SSL site instead of the site you're expecting, make sure you didn't add your server's external IP address in a /etc/hosts entry! A pretty weird thing to have done in hindsight, but hopefully this helps someone else!

score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 18 '16 at 18:35

I find answer from here: http://alexking.org/blog/2007/11/01/apache-2-only-serves-first-virtual-host

Put 2 servername in same 1 VirtualHost tag as below:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName beta-site-1.com
DocumentRoot "/Library/WebServer/beta-site-1"

ServerName beta-site-2.com
DocumentRoot "/Library/WebServer/beta-site-2"
</VirtualHost>

I ended up having issues with the second site because I had two VirtualHost tag blocks.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered May 10 '22 at 01:14

Coming in very late, but one of my virtual hosts, which had worked previously, suddenly was ignored by Apache (defaulting to the, well, default).

Turns out, I had obtained a LetsEncrypt cert for it and directed all requests to be SSL-encrypted. And ... in the conf file in sites-enabled for the SSL-protected site, the VirtualHost line read:

<VirtualHost 74.50.53.111>

Notice the lack of a port.

Changed it to:

<VirtualHost 74.50.53.111:443>

Suddenly the site is visible.

I spent hours trying to find that, so I thought I'd share the message to save everyone else the trouble.

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 31 '22 at 16:26

0

For me, I didn't realize Google Chrome was hiding the www prefix on the URL. When I went to example.com my apache server was redirecting that to www.example.com without me realizing it.

answered Aug 31 '22 at 16:26

Kevin Wheeler

101
1

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 23 '24 at 15:35

Something I ran into, which isn't mentioned here yet, is that the UseCanonicalName setting may be Off by default.

UseCanonicalName: Determines how Apache constructs self-referencing URLs and the SERVER_NAME and SERVER_PORT variables. When set “Off”, Apache will use the Hostname and Port supplied by the client. When set “On”, Apache will use the value of the ServerName directive.

In my case I had to override the setting in httpd-default.conf

UseCanonicalName On

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 11 '17 at 04:38

I had this problem migrating sites to a new Ubuntu 16 server. After a bit of head-scratching, I realised the SSL Module was not enabled by default, so anything inside the <IfModule mod_ssl.c> blocks is of course silently ignored.

Years ago I wrapped all my SSL vhosts in this conditional, and this time I had just copied the config files across to the new server.

I fixed it by enabling the module:

sudo a2enmod ssl

Why might Apache ignore a virtual host with a ServerName matching the requested URL?

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