The first IP address is free with Amazon AWS. Extra IP’s are not. This how-to guides you through the process of setting up as many virtual host domain in Apache as you need on a single IP. All WordPress sites using SSL / httpS://.
Sites without SSL / httpS:// is given a lower SEO ranking by Google
We have blocked port 80 in the firewall. All sites are using port 443 with a valid SSL certificate provided by CloudFlare. The only port open in the firewall is 22 for SSH admin and 443 for the hosts. SEO ranking for non-SSL sites are lower on Google.com. Since valid SSL certificates are free. Who would create a site without encryption?
Make sure Apache is configured correct for SSL and virtual host
Ubuntu is not SSL prepared by default. Especially not for using many SSL sites on the same IP. We will walk you through the needed modifications here:
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Create root folders to store your content
First you need to create the website route folders on the file system where the files is to be stored.
cd /var/www/
sudo mkdir /var/www/MyDomain1.com
sudo mkdir /var/www/MyDomain2.com
sudo mkdir /var/www/MyDomain3.com
Create a test file to use when verifying that the hosting works.
sudo nano /var/www/MyDomain1.com/index.html
Write:
This is a test page for the domain https://www.mydomain1.com and/or https://mydomain1.com
Save the file and exit Nano.
Then make sure Apache can access these folders:
chown -R www-data /var/www/
Create the first site and use it as a template
To add new domains to your configuration is a quite easy task on Apache.
You just go to the folder where you find your existing config files.
cd /etc/apache2/sites-available
Then add a new config file for the new domain. Some times it’s easier to just copy an existing config file and edit it to reflect the name of the domain. To make it easier to troubleshoot problems it is a good habit to give each config file a number. This is because Apache will start one host at a time based on the number sequence.
01-MyDomain1-com.conf 02-MyDomain2-com.conf 03-MyDomain3-com.conf
To copy and the modifying an existing Apache configuration file
Stop all the active config files and running Apache hosts.
cd /etc/apache2/sites-available
sudo a2dissite *.conf
Then restart Apache so the changes takes effect
sudo service apache2 restart
First backup the default config files:
sudo zip default-apache-config-files.zip *.conf
Move the backup to your home folder:
sudo mv zip default-apache-config-files.zip /home/ubuntu/default-apache-config-files.zip
You might want to remove the non-SSL config file to keep the folder orderly:
sudo rm 000-default.conf
Now rename the default ssl config file
sudo mv default-ssl.conf 01-MyDomain1-com.conf
Finally we will modify the the configuration file:
sudo nano 01-MyDomain1-com.conf
This is what the Apache config file looks like before you start editing:
<ifmodule mod_ssl.c>
<virtualhost _default_:443>
ServerAdmin mail@locahost
DocumentRoot /var/www/html
# Available loglevels: trace8, ..., trace1, debug, info, notice, warn,
# error, crit, alert, emerg.
# It is also possible to configure the loglevel for particular
# modules, e.g.
#LogLevel info ssl:warn
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error-default-.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access-default-.log combined
Modify the values in the file to look like this:
<IfModule mod_ssl.c> <VirtualHost *:443> ServerAdmin mail@mydomain1.com ServerName mydomain1.com ServerAlias mydomain1.com DocumentRoot /var/www/MyDomain1.com ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/01-mydomain1-com-error.log CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/01-mydomain1-com-access.log combined
Save the file.
Activate the config file:
sudo a2ensite 01-MyDomain1-com.conf
Restart Apache
sudo service apache2 restart
GoCheck that the configuration file is correct with these tools:
sudo apachectl configtest sudo systemctl status apache2.service sudo journalctl -xe
Start a web browser and go to https://mydomain1-com or https://www.mydomain1-com to verify that you can access the page you created earlier with the text:
This is a test page for the domain https://www.mydomain1.com and/or https://mydomain1.com
If this page is not displayed, you should not continue before the error is solved. Continueing will make the troubleshooting more complex.
Continuing with the 2. and 3. domain / virtual host
Now use 01-MyDomain1-com.conf as the template for the two next virtual hosts.
To copy an existing file:
sudo cp 01-MyDomain1-com.conf 02-MyDomain2-com.conf
sudo nano 02-MyDomain2-com.conf
Then edit the config to match the second WordPress site:
<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerAdmin mail@mydomain2.com
ServerName mydomain2.com
ServerAlias mydomain2.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/MyDomain2.com
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/02-mydomain2-com-error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/02-mydomain2-com-access.log combined
Save. Then activate the configuration.
sudo a2ensite *.conf
Finally restart Apache so the new site gets published.
sudo service apache2 restart
Check and verify that the new site are online.
Now repeat the process above to create the 3. WordPress site:
sudo cp 01-MyDomain1-com.conf 03-MyDomain3-com.conf
Then edit the config file
sudo nano 03-MyDomain3-com.conf
Change the values so it looks like this:
<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerAdmin mail@mydomain3.com
ServerName mydomain3.com
ServerAlias mydomain3.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/MyDomain3.com ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/03-mydomain3-com-error.log CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/03-mydomain3-com-access.log combined
Save.
Then activate the configuration.
sudo a2ensite *.conf
Finally restart Apache so the new site gets published.
sudo service apache2 restart
Check that the Apache config file is correct:
sudo apachectl configtest sudo systemctl status apache2.service sudo journalctl -xe
When troubleshooting then, disable, enable and activate Apache domain config files with these commands:
sudo a2ensite *.conf sudo a2dissite *.conf sudo service apache2 restart
Check and verify that the new site is online.
Check the server error logs
It’s a good practice to check the error logs. They are here:
cd /var/log/apache2/
sudo nano error.log
sudo nano 01-mydomain1-com-error.log
sudo nano 02-mydomain2-com-error.log
sudo nano 03-mydomain3-com-error.log
Set correct permissions so Apache can access
sudo chown -R www-data /etc/apache2/sites-enabled
sudo chown -R www-data /var/www/MyDomain1.com