Apache HTTP Server Version 2.0
Apache Module mod_vhost_alias
Description: Provides for dynamically configured mass virtual hosting Status: Extension Module Identifier: vhost_alias_module Summary
This module creates dynamically configured virtual hosts, by allowing the IP address and/or the
Host:
header of the HTTP request to be used as part of the pathname to determine what files to serve. This allows for easy use of a huge number of virtual hosts with similar configurations.Directives
See also
Directory Name Interpolation
All the directives in this module interpolate a string into a pathname. The interpolated string (henceforth called the "name") may be either the server name (see the
UseCanonicalName
directive for details on how this is determined) or the IP address of the virtual host on the server in dotted-quad format. The interpolation is controlled by specifiers inspired byprintf
which have a number of formats:
%%
insert a %
%p
insert the port number of the virtual host %N.M
insert (part of) the name
N
andM
are used to specify substrings of the name.N
selects from the dot-separated components of the name, andM
selects characters within whateverN
has selected.M
is optional and defaults to zero if it isn't present; the dot must be present if and only ifM
is present. The interpretation is as follows:
0
the whole name 1
the first part 2
the second part -1
the last part -2
the penultimate part 2+
the second and all subsequent parts -2+
the penultimate and all preceding parts 1+
and-1+
the same as 0
If
N
orM
is greater than the number of parts available a single underscore is interpolated.Examples
For simple name-based virtual hosts you might use the following directives in your server configuration file:
UseCanonicalName Off
VirtualDocumentRoot /usr/local/apache/vhosts/%0A request for
http://www.example.com/directory/file.html
will be satisfied by the file/usr/local/apache/vhosts/www.example.com/directory/file.html
.For a very large number of virtual hosts it is a good idea to arrange the files to reduce the size of the
vhosts
directory. To do this you might use the following in your configuration file:
UseCanonicalName Off
VirtualDocumentRoot /usr/local/apache/vhosts/%3+/%2.1/%2.2/%2.3/%2A request for
http://www.example.isp.com/directory/file.html
will be satisfied by the file/usr/local/apache/vhosts/isp.com/e/x/a/example/directory/file.html
.A more even spread of files can be achieved by hashing from the end of the name, for example:
VirtualDocumentRoot /usr/local/apache/vhosts/%3+/%2.-1/%2.-2/%2.-3/%2
The example request would come from
/usr/local/apache/vhosts/isp.com/e/l/p/example/directory/file.html
.Alternatively you might use:
VirtualDocumentRoot /usr/local/apache/vhosts/%3+/%2.1/%2.2/%2.3/%2.4+
The example request would come from
/usr/local/apache/vhosts/isp.com/e/x/a/mple/directory/file.html
.For IP-based virtual hosting you might use the following in your configuration file:
UseCanonicalName DNS
VirtualDocumentRootIP /usr/local/apache/vhosts/%1/%2/%3/%4/docs
VirtualScriptAliasIP /usr/local/apache/vhosts/%1/%2/%3/%4/cgi-binA request for
http://www.example.isp.com/directory/file.html
would be satisfied by the file/usr/local/apache/vhosts/10/20/30/40/docs/directory/file.html
if the IP address ofwww.example.com
were 10.20.30.40. A request forhttp://www.example.isp.com/cgi-bin/script.pl
would be satisfied by executing the program/usr/local/apache/vhosts/10/20/30/40/cgi-bin/script.pl
.If you want to include the
.
character in aVirtualDocumentRoot
directive, but it clashes with a%
directive, you can work around the problem in the following way:
VirtualDocumentRoot /usr/local/apache/vhosts/%2.0.%3.0
A request for
http://www.example.isp.com/directory/file.html
will be satisfied by the file/usr/local/apache/vhosts/example.isp/directory/file.html
.The
LogFormat
directives%V
and%A
are useful in conjunction with this module.VirtualDocumentRoot Directive
Description: Dynamically configure the location of the document root for a given virtual host Syntax: VirtualDocumentRoot interpolated-directory Default: none
Context: server config, virtual host Status: Extension Module: mod_vhost_alias The
VirtualDocumentRoot
directive allows you to determine where Apache will find your documents based on the value of the server name. The result of expanding interpolated-directory is used as the root of the document tree in a similar manner to theDocumentRoot
directive's argument. If interpolated-directory isnone
thenVirtaulDocumentRoot
is turned off. This directive cannot be used in the same context asVirtualDocumentRootIP
.VirtualDocumentRootIP Directive
Description: Dynamically configure the location of the document root for a given virtual host Syntax: VirtualDocumentRootIP interpolated-directory Default: none
Context: server config, virtual host Status: Extension Module: mod_vhost_alias The
VirtualDocumentRootIP
directive is like theVirtualDocumentRoot
directive, except that it uses the IP address of the server end of the connection instead of the server name.VirtualScriptAlias Directive
Description: Dynamically configure the location of the CGI directory for a given virtual host Syntax: VirtualScriptAlias interpolated-directory Default: none
Context: server config, virtual host Status: Extension Module: mod_vhost_alias The
VirtualScriptAlias
directive allows you to determine where Apache will find CGI scripts in a similar manner toVirtualDocumentRoot
does for other documents. It matches requests for URIs starting/cgi-bin/
, much likeScriptAlias
/cgi-bin/
would.VirtualScriptAliasIP Directive
Description: Dynamically configure the location of the cgi directory for a given virtual host Syntax: VirtualScriptAliasIP interpolated-directory Default: none
Context: server config, virtual host Status: Extension Module: mod_vhost_alias The
VirtualScriptAliasIP
directive is like theVirtualScriptAlias
directive, except that it uses the IP address of the server end of the connection instead of the server name.