Configuring server to respong and deal with domain names

matt260384 · 11-10-2003, 11:04 AM

Hi,

I'm using a friends server to host both of our websites. I'm using zoneedit.com to link the domains to the server ip. There is no place on zoneedit.com to set up what page or folder it uses for each domain, you can only enter the ip address. I've been told that you have to configure the server to respond to certain domain names and therefore display the appropriate pages. At the moment its just displaying the root directory. The server is using apache. Anyone know how to configure the server for this? Help would be appreciated

Thanks

Matt

p.s thanks fishfreek for introducing me to zoneedit.com

**John Scott** · 11-10-2003, 11:15 AM

Moved to Dedicated Server forum.

server-admin · 11-10-2003, 12:20 PM

You sould read up on apache before you try to complete this

**fishfreek** · 11-10-2003, 01:35 PM

You need to configure apache to use name based virtualhosting. See the below link for more documentation.

http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/vhosts/name-based.html

You need to either use a web based admin program like webmin to do this or edit the httpd.conf file manaully to enter the virturalhost information.

Each website should have its own directory somewhere on the server that you set as the document root.

Once you have your domain resolving to the correct IP address then your set as far as zoneedit.

matt260384 · 11-10-2003, 01:55 PM

wow! this is very confusing. that apache link makes no sense to me, im a beginner to servers and web hosting etc. From what i gather that is for hosting two domains on my server. Forgetting that for a bit, how do i set a page to open automatically for a domain name (like index.htm or home.htm). Im hoping this is a little less complex

server-admin · 11-10-2003, 02:05 PM

apache should be able to open a index.htm file without changes made by you. What kind of site are you trying to host ?

**fishfreek** · 11-10-2003, 03:35 PM

Quote:

<VirtualHost *>
DocumentRoot <put the location the files for this domain are> (ie /home/username/www/)
ServerAdmin <e-mail address of server admin>
ServerName <domain name for the domain> (ie www.mydomain.com)
ServerAlias <domainname.com>
ServerSignature on
TransferLog <specify a location for the transfer and log to be including file name>
DirectoryIndex index.html index.php index.htm index.shtml (inclue any other files you might use for your directory index like home.htm)
</VirtualHost>

Ok since you had problems with the link I gave you can use the above example. Open up your httpd.conf file and find the location in the file that lists your virtualhost entries. Use the above template for your virtualhost entry. Insert your information where it needs to be in the above exmaple. Do this once for each host you want to host on your site.

dave conz · 11-10-2003, 03:40 PM

I don't want to be a negativist but if you don't understand these things you should be very wary about opening up your server to the big bad world. Frankly this is entry-level stuff for a server administrator. If you haven't got these things down pat then there's a very good chance you are leaving yourself wide open for all sorts of problems. I strongly recommend that you either invest a huge amount of time learning how servers work or get a professional to help.

I realise you're doing the right thing by asking for help. Just don't run before you can walk. When we decided to start running our own servers we spent two years learning (with a private server) before we launched our first public server. Three years after that we're still learning.

Having your own server is a big responsibility, not just to your own users but to the whole internet community (e.g. making sure you can't be used for open relay etc). You *must* get it right. When you do, it rocks and it's all good. Best of luck!