Adding a CakePHP based virtual host in Apache 2.2

It's very simple to set up a name based virtual host in Apache 2.2 using the default Ubuntu package.

I'm assuming that you have installed Apache already and that you have edited /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default to change the AllowOverride None to something like this:

<Directory /var/www/>
                Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
                AllowOverride All
                Order allow,deny
                allow from all
        </Directory>

If you have not already used this command

sudo a2enmod rewrite

then do so in order to enable mod_rewrite.

Now edit your /etc/hosts file and add an entry that points to the server where you are setting up the virtual host.

The line should look something like this:

192.168.0.100  mysite.local

Where the IP address points to the server where you are setting up the host and mysite.local is a nickname for the site. Remember to add the .local :)

Now create a file in /etc/apache2/sites-available and name it something that relates to the sitename (for future maintainability). I would suggest naming it the same as the sitename. Edit it and copy this basic skeleton structure into it:

<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerAdmin webmaster@example.com
        ServerName  mysite.local
        ServerAlias mysite

        # Indexes + Directory Root.
        DirectoryIndex index.php
        DocumentRoot /var/www/mysite/
</VirtualHost>

It is important that the ServerName matches the entry you made in your /etc/hosts file.

Now run the command a2ensite mysite.local which is a Debian convenience command which creates the symbolic link from the file you created to the /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/ directory.

You will need to restart Apache (service apache2 restart). If all is well you will be able to navigate to http://mysite.local on your local machine and view the site present on the server at /var/www/mysite

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