Hosting multiple websites with Apache2 on Debian

I am going to cover the basics of Name Based Virtual Hosting using Apache2 running on a Debian GNU/Linux Server.

The advantage of Name Based Virtual hosting is that you can host multiple websites from an Apache2 Web server and all these websites only require one static I.P Address and also the requirement that your domain name should resolve to the I.P Address of your server.

Steps
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Step 1:First let us create the document root directories for the virtual domains example.com,example.org and example.net

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root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www

root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.com
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.com/htdocs
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.com/cgi-bin
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.com/logs

root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.net
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.net/htdocs
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.net/logs
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.net/cgi-bin

root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.org
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.org/htdocs
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.org/logs
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.org/cgi-bin
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Please note that I have created separate directories for
htdocs,logs,cgi-bin

Step 2: To enable virtual hosts in your Apache 2 Configuration.

For this let us create a file called /etc/apache2/conf.d/virtual.conf and the following content in it.
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#
# We’re running multiple virtual hosts.
#
NameVirtualHost *
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3) Create host files in /etc/init.d/sites-available in the following format for example.com

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ServerAdmin webmaster@example.com
ServerName www.example.com
ServerAlias example.com

# Indexes + Directory Root.
DirectoryIndex index.html
DocumentRoot /home/www/www.example.com/htdocs/

# CGI Directory
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /home/www/www.example.com/cgi-bin/

Options +ExecCGI

# Logfiles
ErrorLog /home/www/www.example.com/logs/error.log
CustomLog /home/www/www.example.com/logs/access.log combined

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Create similar virtual host files for example.net and example.org

4) Now enable the sites by running the command a2ensite

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root@zion:~# a2ensite www.example.com
Site www.example.com installed; run /etc/init.d/apache2 reload to enable.

root@zion:~# a2ensite www.example.net
Site www.example.net installed; run /etc/init.d/apache2 reload to enable.

root@zion:~# a2ensite www.example.org
Site www.example.org installed; run /etc/init.d/apache2 reload to enable.
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This will create a symbolic link between the files for the domains from /etc/init.d/sites-available to /etc/init.d/sites-enabled.

5) Restart apache2 with the command /etc/init.d/apache2 restart.

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