How to Create Apache Virtual Hosts on CentOS Stream 9

First, ensure that Apache is installed on your CentOS Stream 9 system. 

Virtual Hosts are defined within configuration files with a .conf extension

Create a new file with your text editor

vim /etc/httpd/conf.d/mydomain.com.conf

It’s recommended to create a new file for each domain to keep things organized.

Port 80 is the default HTTP port
Port 443 is the default HTTPS port

In this file, you’ll set up a block for your domain:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName mydomain.com 
    ServerAlias www.mydomain.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/mydomain 
    ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/mydomain-error.log
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName mydomain.com
    ServerAlias www.mydomain.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/domain
        SSLEngine On
        SSLCertificateFile /path/to/ssl/cert.crt
        SSLCertificateKeyFile /path/to/ssl/key.key
</VirtualHost>

Check for syntax errors after configuring your virtual hosts

apachectl configtest

If you get a ‘Syntax OK’ output, restart apache to apply the changes:

systemctl restart httpd

Setup local hosts file

If you’re testing your configuration locally, edit your /etc/hosts file to point the domain to your local server

127.0.0.1 mydomain.com www.mydomain.com

Let’s Encrypt is a Certificate Authority (CA) and provides a free way to obtain certificates.

For more information on securing your virtual host with an SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt

https://letsencrypt.org/getting-started

https://certbot.eff.org

If you’re on a Mac or Linux computer, with administrative privileges you can easily preview your website on the local network. This helps if your domain is not yet registered, not pointed to a hosting account, or is still propagating.

vim /etc/hosts

Your_Server_IP domain.com