WAMP Virtual Host not working

Question

I am using a wamp version 2.5 My Apache is 2.4.9 PHP: 5.5.12 MySQL: 5.6.17

I have these configurations:

On my httpd.conf

# Virtual hosts
Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

On my G:\wamp\bin\apache\apache2.4.9\conf\extra\httpd-vhost.conf

# Virtual Hosts
#
# Required modules: mod_log_config

# If you want to maintain multiple domains/hostnames on your
# machine you can setup VirtualHost containers for them. Most configurations
# use only name-based virtual hosts so the server doesn't need to worry about
# IP addresses. This is indicated by the asterisks in the directives below.
#
# Please see the documentation at 
# <URL:http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/vhosts/>
# for further details before you try to setup virtual hosts.
#
# You may use the command line option '-S' to verify your virtual host
# configuration.
#


#
# VirtualHost example:
# Almost any Apache directive may go into a VirtualHost container.
# The first VirtualHost section is used for all requests that do not
# match a ServerName or ServerAlias in any <VirtualHost> block.
#


<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    DocumentRoot "g:/Apache24/docs/dummy-host.example.com"
    ServerName dummy-host.example.com
    ServerAlias www.dummy-host.example.com
    ErrorLog "logs/dummy-host.example.com-error.log"
    CustomLog "logs/dummy-host.example.com-access.log" common
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    DocumentRoot "g:/Apache24/docs/dummy-host2.example.com"
    ServerName dummy-host2.example.com
    ErrorLog "logs/dummy-host2.example.com-error.log"
    CustomLog "logs/dummy-host2.example.com-access.log" common
</VirtualHost>


<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    DocumentRoot "g:/wamp/www"
    ServerName localhost
    ErrorLog "logs/localhost-error.log"
    CustomLog "logs/localhost-access.log" common
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "g:\wamp\www\mysite\public"
    ServerName mysite.dev
</VirtualHost>

On my c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
127.0.0.1   localhost
127.0.0.1   mysite.dev
#   ::1     localhost

I try to access my project using this URL: http://www.mysite.dev/ BUT I am getting a Server not found error I tried accessing it using www.mysite.dev , http://mysite.dev but still having a bad luck!

My virtual host was working before but i'm not sure why it wasn't working now. Some weird stuff going on.

I am not sure what's happening. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Answer 1

First you need to remove the example dummy definitions from your vhost-httpd.conf file. They are there as examples only just to get you started with the syntax, and should not remain in an active conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf as they are pointing to non existant folders.

So remove these 2 definitions from the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    DocumentRoot "g:/Apache24/docs/dummy-host.example.com"
    ServerName dummy-host.example.com
    ServerAlias www.dummy-host.example.com
    ErrorLog "logs/dummy-host.example.com-error.log"
    CustomLog "logs/dummy-host.example.com-access.log" common
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    DocumentRoot "g:/Apache24/docs/dummy-host2.example.com"
    ServerName dummy-host2.example.com
    ErrorLog "logs/dummy-host2.example.com-error.log"
    CustomLog "logs/dummy-host2.example.com-access.log" common
</VirtualHost>

Second Apache 2.4.x is IPV4 ( 127.0.0.1 ) and IPV6 (::1) aware so your hosts file should look like this with definitions for both IPV4 and IPV6 versions for each site. The browser can arbitrarily use either so you need both but will probably use the IPV6 network in preference to the IPV4 if both are actually active on your PC.

127.0.0.1   localhost
::1  localhost

127.0.0.1   mysite.dev
::1  mysite.dev

Now on the 2 Virtual Hosts that actually exist on your system try this as the Virtual Host definition :

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "g:/wamp/www"
    ServerName localhost
    ServerAlias localhost
    ErrorLog "logs/localhost-error.log"
    CustomLog "logs/localhost-access.log" common
    <Directory  "G:/wamp/www">
        AllowOverride All
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        Require local
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "g:\wamp\www\mysite\public"
    ServerName mysite.dev
    ServerAlias www.mysite.dev
    ErrorLog "logs/mysite-error.log"
    CustomLog "logs/mysite-access.log" common
    <Directory  "G:/wamp/www/mysite/public">
        AllowOverride All
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        Require local
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

The <Directory>....</Directory> section within the <VirtualHost>....</VirtualHost> section tells Apache which IP Addresses it is allowed to accept connections from, so using the Apache 2.4 syntax Require local limits access so that only the PC running WAMPServer i.e. Apache can connect to any of these site.

Avoid mixing Apache 2.2 syntax and Apache 2.4 syntax together in the same definition. So dont use

Order Allow,Deny
Allow from all

and

Require all granted

in the same definition. You are using Apache 2.4 so use the Apache 2.4 syntax.

If you find you want to allow other PC's inside your local network to see you site i.e. work mate or the kids etc, you can add this syntax to one or more of your Virtual Host definition.

Allow just a single other PC into your site

Require local
Require ip 192.168.1.100

or 2 other PC's

Require local
Require ip 192.168.1.100, 192.168.1.101

Or to anyone on your local network just use the first 3 of the 4 quartiles of the ip address.

Require ip 192.168.1

Also avoid using the syntax that allows access from anywhere i.e.

Require all granted  <--Apache 2.4 syntax

or 

Order Allow,Deny     <-- Apache 2.2 syntax
Allow from all    

It may solve your issues in the short term, but is just waiting to catch you sometime later when you decide you want to show your site to a friend/client/boss. If you get to the stage of Port Forwarding you router so that the world is allowed into your network that would cause ALL OF YOUR SITES to become available to the world.

Better to change the ONE Virtual Host Definition for the ONE site you want people to see for testing/bragging from Require local to Require all granted and only allow that single site to be access from the internet.

Once you have made all these changes remember to restart Apache.

Also if you change the hosts file to make the chnages active you should either reboot or run these command from the command line of a command windows started ising the Runs as Administrator option.

net stop dnscache
net start dnscache

If you are using Windows 10 the above dns commands no longer work, you should do this instead.

ipconfig /flushdns