I have an ubuntu 14.04 server set up with apache, and set up a subdomain A record to point to it (lets call it demo.). I also set up a virtual host in /etc/apache2/sites-available called demo.domain.com.conf that looks like this:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@domain.com
ServerName demo.domain.com
ServerAlias demo.domain.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/demo.domain.com/httpdocs
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
This has been running fine for around a month while I’ve been developing new things.
Now, to continue my work on the project I need a new subdomain (this one api.), so again I set up an A record to point to the server, and also created api.domain.com.conf in /etc/apache2/sites-available that looks like so:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@domain.com
ServerName api.domain.com
ServerAlias api.domain.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/api.domain.com/httpdocs
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
used a2ensite api.domain.com.conf to activate and restarted apache. However visiting the subdomain shows an apache2 ubuntu default page, not the contents of /var/www/html/api.domain.com/httpdocs. Much to my confusion!
After having a think about things, I decided that maybe the two subdomains needed to be in one conf file for the domain rather than one for each subdomain. So, I deactivated both virtual hosts with a2dissite, and created a new conf file in sites-available called domain.com.conf like so:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@domain.com
ServerName demo.domain.com
ServerAlias demo.domain.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/demo.domain.com/httpdocs
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@domain.com
ServerName api.domain.com
ServerAlias api.domain.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/api.domain.com/httpdocs
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Again, activated with a2ensite and restarted apache.
This is where the biggest confusion started. Nothing had changed. If I go to the demo subdomain I see exactly what I expect to see, but if I go to the api subdomain I still see the apache2 default page. To add to this confusion I deactivated my new virtual host too with a2dissite and restarted apache. Still the same - demo. works, api. doesn’t.
This now doesn’t make any sense at all, if I run the following command:
source /etc/apache2/envvars
/usr/sbin/apache2 -S
it tells me that there are no virtual hosts set up, but I can still visit demo. and see my development site, and still visit api. and see the default page. I’m now at a loss as to what’s happening. I’m unable to troubleshoot and figure out any issues with my virtual host configuration because it seems virtual hosts are stuck in the old configuration somehow.
So, my main questions are A) how do I go about troubleshooting this issue in the first place, and B) if anyone has any ideas as to how I can get this resolved so I can continue working on the project itself rather than something as simple as setting up a new subdomain!
Any help much appreciated 