<VirtualHost> Directive

Description:	Contains directives that apply only to a specific hostname or IP address
Syntax:	<VirtualHost addr[:port] [addr[:port]] ...> ... </VirtualHost>
Context:	server config
Status:	Core
Module:	core

<VirtualHost> and </VirtualHost> are used to enclose a group of directives that will apply only to a particular virtual host. Any directive that is allowed in a virtual host context may be used. When the server receives a request for a document on a particular virtual host, it uses the configuration directives enclosed in the <VirtualHost> section. Addr can be:

• The IP address of the virtual host;
• A fully qualified domain name for the IP address of the virtual host (not recommended);
• The character *, which is used only in combination with NameVirtualHost * to match all IP addresses; or
• The string _default_, which is used only with IP virtual hosting to catch unmatched IP addresses.

Example

<VirtualHost 10.1.2.3>
ServerAdmin webmaster@host.example.com
DocumentRoot /www/docs/host.example.com
ServerName host.example.com
ErrorLog logs/host.example.com-error_log
TransferLog logs/host.example.com-access_log
</VirtualHost>

IPv6 addresses must be specified in square brackets because the optional port number could not be determined otherwise. An IPv6 example is shown below:

<VirtualHost [2001:db8::a00:20ff:fea7:ccea]>
ServerAdmin webmaster@host.example.com
DocumentRoot /www/docs/host.example.com
ServerName host.example.com
ErrorLog logs/host.example.com-error_log
TransferLog logs/host.example.com-access_log
</VirtualHost>

Each Virtual Host must correspond to a different IP address, different port number or a different host name for the server, in the former case the server machine must be configured to accept IP packets for multiple addresses. (If the machine does not have multiple network interfaces, then this can be accomplished with the ifconfig alias command -- if your OS supports it).

Note

The use of <VirtualHost> does not affect what addresses Apache listens on. You may need to ensure that Apache is listening on the correct addresses using Listen.

When using IP-based virtual hosting, the special name _default_ can be specified in which case this virtual host will match any IP address that is not explicitly listed in another virtual host. In the absence of any _default_ virtual host the "main" server config, consisting of all those definitions outside any VirtualHost section, is used when no IP-match occurs. (But note that any IP address that matches a NameVirtualHost directive will use neither the "main" server config nor the _default_ virtual host. See the name-based virtual hosting documentation for further details.)

You can specify a :port to change the port that is matched. If unspecified then it defaults to the same port as the most recent Listen statement of the main server. You may also specify :* to match all ports on that address. (This is recommended when used with _default_.)

A ServerName should be specified inside each <VirtualHost> block. If it is absent, the ServerName from the "main" server configuration will be inherited.

Security

See the security tips document for details on why your security could be compromised if the directory where log files are stored is writable by anyone other than the user that starts the server.