creating a Virtual Host in Apache

In this guide, we will explain how to set up a virtual host (vhost) on an Apache server. This is another article in a series of articles on server maintenance and Linux. By default, Apache serves its content from a directory located in /var/www/ using the configuration included in /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf. Instead of modifying the default website configuration file, we will create a new virtual host. Virtual hosts allow us to configure multiple domains on a single Apache server. To do this, we will create a directory in /var/www/ for a sample website called your_domain. Create the root directory for your_domain as follows:

sudo mkdir /var/www/your_domain

Now we will set permissions on the directory with the $USER environment variable, which should refer to your current system user:

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/your_domain

Open a new configuration file under Apache's sites-available directory using a command line editor. In our example, we are using nano:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/your_domain.conf

Paste the following settings:

<VirtualHost *:80> ServerName your_domain ServerAlias www.your_domain ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost DocumentRoot /var/www/your_domain ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined </VirtualHost>

With these VirtualHost settings, we are essentially telling Apache to serve the content of your domain in the following directory:

/var/www/your_domain

You can test Apache without a domain name by removing the ServerName and ServerAlias options or by adding a # at the beginning of each option's line. Now you can use a2ensite to activate this virtual host:

sudo a2ensite your_domain

For convenience and security reasons, it is recommended to disable the default website that comes with Apache. To disable the default Apache website, type:

sudo a2dissite 000-default

To ensure that your configuration file does not contain any syntax errors, you can run:

sudo apache2ctl configtest

Finally, reload Apache for the changes to take effect:

sudo systemctl reload apache2

Your new site is active, but its root directory—/var/www/your_domain—is empty.

Scenario 1: Name-based virtual host

This is the most common scenario. One server hosts multiple sites, each with its own domain (example1.com, example2.com), and all requests arrive at the same IP. Apache differentiates them via the Host header of the request.

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example1.com
    ServerAlias www.example1.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/example1
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/example1-error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/example1-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Save to /etc/apache2/sites-available/example1.conf, enable with a2ensite example1 and run systemctl reload apache2.

Scenario 2: HTTPS with Let's Encrypt

Today, most sites require HTTPS. After installing certbot, run certbot --apache -d example1.com -d www.example1.com. certbot automatically duplicates the VirtualHost to port 443 with the SSL certificate, and adds a redirect from HTTP to HTTPS.

Important: make sure port 443 is open in the firewall (ufw allow 443/tcp) and the domain's A record points to the server before you run certbot — otherwise domain-control validation will fail.

Common issues + fixes

• "AH00558: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name" — add ServerName 127.0.0.1 to /etc/apache2/apache2.conf.
• Two VirtualHosts loaded on the same domain — check ordering with apache2ctl -S; the first is the default for requests that don't match any ServerName.
• Config file changes don't take effect — you must systemctl reload apache2 after every change (not just restart).

On our managed servers, creating a new site through cPanel sets up the VirtualHost automatically with active SSL. Managed VPS includes this management as standard.