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<manualpage metafile="details.xml.meta">
<parentdocument href="./">Virtual Hosts</parentdocument>
   <title>An In-Depth Discussion of Virtual Host Matching</title>

<summary>

    <p>This document attempts to explain
    exactly what Apache HTTP Server does when deciding what virtual host to
    serve a request from.</p>

    <p>Most users should read about <a href="name-based.html#namevip">
    Name-based vs. IP-based Virtual Hosts</a> to decide which type they
    want to use, then read more about <a href="name-based.html">name-based</a>
    or <a href="ip-based.html">IP-based</a> virtualhosts, and then see
    <a href="examples.html">some examples</a>.</p>

    <p>If you want to understand all the details, then you can
    come back to this page.</p>

</summary>

<seealso><a href="ip-based.html">IP-based Virtual Host Support</a></seealso>
<seealso><a href="name-based.html">Name-based Virtual Hosts Support</a></seealso>
<seealso><a href="examples.html">Virtual Host examples for common setups</a></seealso>
<seealso><a href="mass.html">Dynamically configured mass virtual hosting</a></seealso>


<section id="configparsing"><title>Configuration File</title>

    <p>There is a <em>main server</em> which consists of all the
    definitions appearing outside of
    <code>&lt;VirtualHost&gt;</code> sections.</p>

    <p>There are virtual
    servers, called <em>vhosts</em>, which are defined by
    <directive type="section" module="core">VirtualHost</directive>
    sections.</p>

    <p>Each <code>VirtualHost</code> directive includes one
    or more addresses and optional ports.</p>

    <p>Hostnames can be used in place of IP addresses in a virtual
    host definition, but they are resolved at startup and if any name
    resolutions fail, those virtual host definitions are ignored.
    This is, therefore, not recommended.</p>

    <p>If using IP-based vhosts, the address can be specified
    as <code>_default_</code>, which will match a request if no
    other vhost has the explicit address on which the request was
    received.</p>

    <p>If using name-based vhosts, the address can be specified as
    <code>*</code>, which will match a request if no
    other vhost has the explicit address on which the request was
    received.  The corresponding <code>NameVirtualHost</code>
    directive must also use <code>*</code>.</p>

    <p>The address appearing in the <code>VirtualHost</code>
    directive can have an optional port. If the port is unspecified,
    it is treated as a wildcard port, which can also be indicated
    explicitly using <code>*</code>.
    The wildcard port matches any port.</p>

    <p>(Port numbers specified in the <code>VirtualHost</code> directive do
    not influence what port numbers Apache will listen on, they only control
    which <code>VirtualHost</code> will be selected to handle a request.
    Use the <directive module="core">Listen</directive> directive to
    control the addresses and ports on which the server listens.)
    </p>
    
    <p>Collectively the
    entire set of addresses (including multiple 
    results from DNS lookups) are called the vhost's
    <em>address set</em>.</p>

    <p>If you want Apache to discriminate on the
    basis of the HTTP <code>Host</code> header supplied by the client,
    the <code>NameVirtualHost</code> directive <em>must</em> appear
    with the exact IP address (or wildcard) and port pair used in a
    corresponding set of <code>VirtualHost</code> directives.</p>

    <p>The 
    <directive module="core">ServerName</directive> directive
    may appear anywhere within the definition of a server. However,
    each appearance overrides the previous appearance (within that
    server).  If no <code>ServerName</code> is specified, the server
    attempts to deduce it from the server's IP address.</p>

    <p>Multiple <code>NameVirtualHost</code> directives can be used,
    each with a set of <code>VirtualHost</code> directives, but only
    one <code>NameVirtualHost</code> directive should be used for
    each specific IP:port pair.</p>

    <p>The first name-based vhost in the configuration file for a
    given IP:port pair is significant because it is used for all
    requests received on that address and port for which no other
    vhost for that IP:port pair has a matching ServerName or
    ServerAlias.  It is also used for all SSL connections if the
    server does not support <glossary
    ref="servernameindication">Server Name Indication</glossary>.</p>

    <p>If there are no vhosts defined for an address in a
    <code>NameVirtualHost</code> directive, the
    <code>NameVirtualHost</code> directive is ignored at startup and an error is
    logged.</p>

    <p>The ordering of <code>NameVirtualHost</code> and
    <code>VirtualHost</code> directives is not important, which
    makes the following two examples identical (only the order of
    the <code>VirtualHost</code> directives for <em>one</em>
    address set is important, see below):</p>

<table><tr>
<td><example>
  NameVirtualHost 111.22.33.44<br />
  &lt;VirtualHost 111.22.33.44&gt;<br />
  # server A<br />
  ...<br />
  &lt;/VirtualHost&gt;<br />
  &lt;VirtualHost 111.22.33.44&gt;<br />
  # server B<br />
  ...<br />
  &lt;/VirtualHost&gt;<br />
  <br />
  NameVirtualHost 111.22.33.55<br />
  &lt;VirtualHost 111.22.33.55&gt;<br />
  # server C<br />
  ...<br />
  &lt;/VirtualHost&gt;<br />
  &lt;VirtualHost 111.22.33.55&gt;<br />
  # server D<br />
  ...<br />
  &lt;/VirtualHost&gt;
</example></td>
<td><example>
  &lt;VirtualHost 111.22.33.44&gt;<br />
  # server A<br />
  &lt;/VirtualHost&gt;<br />
  &lt;VirtualHost 111.22.33.55&gt;<br />
  # server C<br />
  ...<br />
  &lt;/VirtualHost&gt;<br />
  &lt;VirtualHost 111.22.33.44&gt;<br />
  # server B<br />
  ...<br />
  &lt;/VirtualHost&gt;<br />
  &lt;VirtualHost 111.22.33.55&gt;<br />
  # server D<br />
  ...<br />
  &lt;/VirtualHost&gt;<br />
  <br />
  NameVirtualHost 111.22.33.44<br />
  NameVirtualHost 111.22.33.55<br />
  <br />
</example></td>
</tr></table>


    <p>(To aid the readability of your configuration you should
    prefer the left variant.)</p>

    <p>For every vhost various default values are set. In
    particular:</p>

    <ol>
      <li>If a vhost has no <directive module="core">ServerAdmin</directive>,
      <directive module="core">ResourceConfig</directive>,
      <directive module="core">AccessConfig</directive>,
      <directive module="core">Timeout</directive>,
      <directive module="core">KeepAliveTimeout</directive>,
      <directive module="core">KeepAlive</directive>,
      <directive module="core">MaxKeepAliveRequests</directive>,
      <directive module="core">ReceiveBufferSize</directive>,
      or <directive module="core">SendBufferSize</directive>
      directive then the respective value is inherited from the
      main server. (That is, inherited from whatever the final
      setting of that value is in the main server.)</li>

      <li>The "lookup defaults" that define the default directory
      permissions for a vhost are merged with those of the
      main server. This includes any per-directory configuration
      information for any module.</li>

      <li>The per-server configs for each module from the
      main server are merged into the vhost server.</li>
    </ol>

    <p>Essentially, the main server is treated as "defaults" or a
    "base" on which to build each vhost. But the positioning of
    these main server definitions in the config file is largely
    irrelevant -- the entire config of the main server has been
    parsed when this final merging occurs. So even if a main server
    definition appears after a vhost definition it might affect the
    vhost definition.</p>

    <p>If the main server has no <code>ServerName</code> at this
    point, then the hostname of the machine that <program>httpd</program>
    is running on is used instead. We will call the <em>main server address
    set</em> those IP addresses returned by a DNS lookup on the
    <code>ServerName</code> of the main server.</p>

    <p>For any undefined <code>ServerName</code> fields, a
    name-based vhost defaults to the address given first in the
    <code>VirtualHost</code> statement defining the vhost.</p>

    <p>Any vhost that includes the magic <code>_default_</code>
    wildcard is given the same <code>ServerName</code> as the
    main server.</p>

</section>

<section id="hostmatching"><title>Virtual Host Matching</title>

    <p>The server determines which vhost to use for a request as
    follows:</p>

    <section id="hashtable"><title>IP address lookup</title>

    <p>When the connection is first received on some address and port,
    the server looks for all the <code>VirtualHost</code> definitions
    that have the same IP address and port.</p>

    <p>If there are no exact matches for the address and port, then
    wildcard (<code>*</code>) matches are considered.</p>

    <p>If there are still no matches, then vhosts with IP
    address specified as <code>_default_</code> that match the
    port are considered.</p>

    <p>If no matches are found, the request is served by the
    main server.</p>

    <p>If there are <code>VirtualHost</code> definitions for
    the IP address, the next step is to decide if we have to
    deal with an IP-based or a name-based vhost.</p>

    </section>

    <section id="ipbased"><title>IP-based vhost</title>

    <p>If there is no <code>NameVirtualHost</code> directive
    matching the vhost, no further actions are performed and
    the request is served from the first matching vhost.</p>

    </section>

    <section id="namebased"><title>Name-based vhost</title>

    <p>If the entry corresponds to a name-based vhost, the "list" in
    the remaining steps refers to the list of vhosts that matched, in
    the order they were in the configuration file.</p>

    <p>If the connection is using SSL, the server supports <glossary
    ref="servernameindication">Server Name Indication</glossary>, and
    the SSL client handshake includes the TLS extension with the
    requested hostname, then that hostname is used below just like the
    <code>Host:</code> header would be used on a non-SSL connection.
    Otherwise, the first name-based vhost whose address matched is
    used for SSL connections.  This is significant because the
    vhost determines which certificate the server will use for the
    connection.</p>

    <p>If the request contains a <code>Host:</code> header field, the
    list is searched for the first vhost with a matching
    <code>ServerName</code> or <code>ServerAlias</code>, and the
    request is served from that vhost. A <code>Host:</code> header
    field can contain a port number, but Apache always ignores it and
    matches against the real port to which the client sent the
    request.</p>

    <p>The first vhost in the config
    file with the specified IP address has the highest priority
    and catches any request to an unknown server name, or a request
    without a <code>Host:</code> header field (such as a HTTP/1.0
    request).</p>

    </section>

    <section id="persistent"><title>Persistent connections</title>

    <p>The <em>IP lookup</em> described above is only done <em>once</em> for a
    particular TCP/IP session while the <em>name lookup</em> is done on
    <em>every</em> request during a KeepAlive/persistent
    connection. In other words, a client may request pages from
    different name-based vhosts during a single persistent
    connection.</p>

    </section>

    <section id="absoluteURI"><title>Absolute URI</title>

    <p>If the URI from the request is an absolute URI, and its
    hostname and port match the main server or one of the
    configured virtual hosts <em>and</em> match the address and
    port to which the client sent the request, then the
    scheme/hostname/port prefix is stripped off and the remaining
    relative URI is served by the corresponding main server or
    virtual host. If it does not match, then the URI remains
    untouched and the request is taken to be a proxy request.</p>
</section>

<section id="observations"><title>Observations</title>

    <ul>
      <li>A name-based vhost can never interfere with an IP-base
      vhost and vice versa. IP-based vhosts can only be reached
      through an IP address of its own address set and never
      through any other address. The same applies to name-based
      vhosts, they can only be reached through an IP address of the
      corresponding address set which must be defined with a
      <code>NameVirtualHost</code> directive.</li>

      <li><code>ServerAlias</code>
      checks are never performed for an IP-based vhost.</li>

      <li>The order of name-/IP-based, the <code>_default_</code>
      vhost and the <code>NameVirtualHost</code> directive within
      the config file is not important. Only the ordering of
      name-based vhosts for a specific address set is significant.
      The one name-based vhosts that comes first in the
      configuration file has the highest priority for its
      corresponding address set.</li>

      <li>Any port in the <code>Host:</code> header field is never used during the
      matching process. Apache always uses the real port to which
      the client sent the request.</li>

      <li>If two IP-based vhosts have an address in common, the
      vhost appearing first in the config file is always matched.
      Such a thing might happen inadvertently. The server will give
      a warning in the error logfile when it detects this.</li>

      <li>A <code>_default_</code> vhost catches a request only if
      there is no other vhost with a matching IP address
      <em>and</em> a matching port number for the request. The
      request is only caught if the port number to which the client
      sent the request matches the port number of your
      <code>_default_</code> vhost which is your standard
      <code>Listen</code> by default. A wildcard port can be
      specified (<em>i.e.</em>, <code>_default_:*</code>) to catch
      requests to any available port. This also applies to
      <code>NameVirtualHost *</code> vhosts.  Note that this is simply an
      extension of the "best match" principle, as a specific and exact match
      is favored over a wildcard.</li>

      <li>The main server is only used to serve a request if the IP
      address and port number to which the client connected 
      does not match any vhost (including a
      <code>_default_</code> vhost). In other words, the main server
      only catches a request for an unspecified address/port
      combination (unless there is a <code>_default_</code> vhost
      which matches that port).</li>

      <li>A <code>_default_</code> vhost or the main server is
      <em>never</em> matched for a request with an unknown or
      missing <code>Host:</code> header field if the client
      connected to an address (and port) which is used for
      name-based vhosts, <em>e.g.</em>, in a
      <code>NameVirtualHost</code> directive.</li>

      <li>You should never specify DNS names in
      <code>VirtualHost</code> directives because it will force
      your server to rely on DNS to boot. Furthermore it poses a
      security threat if you do not control the DNS for all the
      domains listed. There's <a href="../dns-caveats.html">more
      information</a> available on this and the next two
      topics.</li>

      <li><code>ServerName</code> should always be set for each
      vhost. Otherwise A DNS lookup is required for each
      vhost.</li>
      </ul>
      </section>

</section>

<section id="tips"><title>Tips</title>

    <p>In addition to the tips on the <a
    href="../dns-caveats.html#tips">DNS Issues</a> page, here are
    some further tips:</p>

    <ul>
      <li>Place all main server definitions before any
      <code>VirtualHost</code> definitions. (This is to aid the
      readability of the configuration -- the post-config merging
      process makes it non-obvious that definitions mixed in around
      virtual hosts might affect all virtual hosts.)</li>

      <li>Group corresponding <code>NameVirtualHost</code> and
      <code>VirtualHost</code> definitions in your configuration to
      ensure better readability.</li>
    </ul>

</section>

</manualpage>
