Configure Apache Virtual Hosts on Ubuntu 26.04

What you need before you start

A virtual host (a configuration block that tells Apache which site to serve for which domain name) lets one server answer for many names. You need these in place first:

• An Ubuntu 26.04 server with Apache2 installed and running.
• A user account that can run sudo.
• Two domain names. The examples below use example.com and example.org. Replace them with your own.
• The server’s IP address. The examples use 192.0.2.10.

Create the site folders

Each site gets its own folder, so the content stays separate. These steps need sudo.

1. Open a terminal on the server, or connect to it over SSH (Secure Shell, a tool for running commands on a server remotely).
2. Create a folder for each site:
   

   🐧Bash / Shell

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   sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com/public_html
   sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.org/public_html

3. Make your user the owner of both folders. Owners can edit files in a folder without sudo:
   

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   sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/example.com /var/www/example.org

4. Create a test page for the first site:
   

   ⬛Command Prompt

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   echo "This is example.com" > /var/www/example.com/public_html/index.html

5. Create a test page for the second site:
   

   ⬛Command Prompt

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   echo "This is example.org" > /var/www/example.org/public_html/index.html

Each page shows a different message, so you can tell which site Apache served.

Write the virtual host files

Apache reads one file per site from /etc/apache2/sites-available/. The file only takes effect after you enable it in the next section.

Create the first site

1. Open a new configuration file:
   

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   sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.com.conf

2. Paste this block:
   

   💻Code

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   <VirtualHost *:80>
       ServerName www.example.com
       ServerAlias example.com
       DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com/public_html
       ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/example.com-error.log
       CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/example.com-access.log combined
   </VirtualHost>

3. Press Ctrl+O, then Enter, to save.
4. Press Ctrl+X to close nano (a basic text editor that runs in the terminal).

ServerName is the main name for the site. ServerAlias adds another name that points to the same site. DocumentRoot is the folder Apache serves.

Create the second site

1. Open a second file:
   

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   sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.org.conf

2. Paste this block:
   

   💻Code

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   <VirtualHost *:80>
       ServerName www.example.org
       ServerAlias example.org
       DocumentRoot /var/www/example.org/public_html
       ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/example.org-error.log
       CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/example.org-access.log combined
   </VirtualHost>

3. Save the file and close nano the same way as before.

Enable the sites and reload Apache

Enabling a site links its file into Apache's active configuration. Run the a2ensite command for each site below. These steps need sudo.

1. Enable both sites:
   

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   sudo a2ensite example.com.conf
   sudo a2ensite example.org.conf

2. Check the configuration for mistakes:
   

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   sudo apache2ctl configtest

   
   You should see Syntax OK. A warning about ServerName for the whole server does not stop Apache from working.
3. Reload Apache so it picks up the change:
   

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   sudo systemctl reload apache2

If the test reports an error, fix the file it names before you reload.

Open the firewall if needed

Skip this if you do not use UFW.

1. Run:
   

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   sudo ufw allow "Apache"

2. Confirm the rule with:
   

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   sudo ufw status

Test the sites from 🪟 Windows 11

This file overrides DNS on that PC only.

Add entries to the hosts file

This step needs administrator rights. To undo it later, delete the lines you add.

1. Click Start, type Notepad, right-click Notepad, and choose Run as administrator.
2. Choose File › Open.
3. Paste C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc into the address bar and press Enter.
4. Change the file type filter from Text Documents (*.txt) to All files.
5. Select hosts and click Open.
6. Add these lines at the bottom:
   

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   192.0.2.10 example.com www.example.com
   192.0.2.10 example.org www.example.org

7. Choose File › Save.
8. Open a Terminal window and run ipconfig /flushdns to clear the saved name lookups that Windows keeps for recent domain names.

Check each site

1. Open a browser and go to http://www.example.com. You should see This is example.com.
2. Go to http://www.example.org. You should see This is example.org.
3. For a quick check without a browser, run curl.exe http://www.example.com in Terminal. The command prints the page text, so you can check the content without opening a browser.

Use http://, not https://. These virtual hosts listen on port 80 only (the standard port for unencrypted web traffic), and your browser may try HTTPS first.

Handle requests for unknown names

Apache serves the first enabled virtual host when a request matches none of your names. On Ubuntu, the default site file 000-default.conf sorts first, so it answers those requests. To stop that, disable it:

1. Run:
   

   🐧Bash / Shell

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   sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf

2. Reload Apache:
   

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   sudo systemctl reload apache2

Apache now falls back to the first site in alphabetical order. On this server, that site is example.com.conf. To bring the default site back, run sudo a2ensite 000-default.conf and reload.

What to do next

Once both pages load as expected, remove the lines you added to the Windows hosts file and point your real DNS records at the server. Then add HTTPS (encrypted web traffic) to each virtual host with a certificate, because the setup above sends traffic unencrypted. If a site shows the wrong page, check the ServerName spelling and look at the logs in /var/log/apache2/.