Hosting Multiple Websites on a Single IP Address

It is not too difficult to host multiple websites on a single server and a single IP address. Here is how to do it with Apache server, based on article1, article2, and article3. I am assuming that you already have a server setup with apache2. If not, please refer to this tutorial for instructions.

The first step is to create virtual hosts where each virtual host serves each different website. For example, assume you want to serve domain names: hi.com and hello.com. You will need to create two virtual hosts, so that one will serve hi.com while the other will serve hello.com.

On Ubuntu or Debian, apache default server configuration files are in /etc/apache2 directory, while web server directory is /var/www.

First, copy the default configuration file and create two virtual host config files:
$ sudo cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/hi.conf
$ sudo cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/hello.conf

Next, edit /etc/apache2/sites-available/hi.conf similar to below:
 <VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName hi.com
    ServerAlias www.hi.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/hi
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Note that you must create /var/www/hi directory that contains files to serve for hi.com.

Similarly, edit /etc/apache2/sites-available/hello.conf in the same manner.
 <VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName hello.com
    ServerAlias www.hello.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/hello
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Again, you will need to create /var/www/hello directory that will serve visitors to hello.com.

Next, enable the new virtual host configuration files:
$ sudo a2ensite hi.conf 
$ sudo a2ensite hello.conf 

Next, reload apache2 so that the change takes effect
$ sudo service apache2 reload

If you want to test these out, refer to this excellent article for more details.


These steps up to here will complete the setup for the server side. Now, it is time to setup your domain name configurations.

To direct any visitor who enters hi.com or hello.com to your virtual hosts, you will need to add A Record. Take a look at this article for more details.

Essentially, create A Record for hi.com and hello.com to direct to your server's IP address, and apache server will then take care of directing visitors of hi.com to your hi.com virtual host, and visitors of hello.com to the virtual host of hello.com that you have set up above.

*** Note: make sure not to enable forwarding of your domain name to your server. That was my first attempt, and it did not work. You will need to set up A Record instead in order for your apache server to point to appropriate virtual host.