Apache Shared Hosting — Step by Step Guide

📋

The Plan

You will host 3 websites on a single Linux server using Apache's Virtual Host feature. Each site gets its own free domain name and its own folder on the server.

Site 1 — Default

conf file:

000-default.conf

/var/www/html

Site 2

conf file:

sito2.conf

/var/www/sito-alternativo

Site 3

conf file:

sito3.conf

/var/www/sito-alternativo2

ℹ️

The three .conf files provided are already an example of the final result. This guide will show you exactly how to create them.

1

Get your server's public IP address

Once

You need the public IP of your Linux server. Run this command on the server:

terminal

curl ifconfig.me

It will print something like 85.12.34.56. Write it down — you'll need it in the next step.

⚠️

VPS or cloud server? Your IP is shown in your provider's dashboard (DigitalOcean, Hetzner, AWS, etc.). Use that IP directly.

2

Register 3 free domain names

Once

You need 3 free hostnames that point to your server's IP. You can use any combination of these services:

No-IP — noip.com
Register → Dynamic DNS → Create Hostname → pick a name (e.g. mysitename.ddns.net) → enter your server IP → Save.
DuckDNS — duckdns.org
Log in with Google/GitHub → type a subdomain name → click Add Domain → type your IP in the "current ip" box → click Update IP.
Dynu — dynu.com
Register free → DDNS Services → Add → type a hostname (e.g. istrati.dynu.net) → enter your server IP → Save.

Repeat for all 3 sites. By the end you'll have 3 hostnames like:

example hostnames (replace with yours)

istrati.ddns.net      # Site 1 – No-IP  →  yourname.ddns.net
istrati.duckdns.org   # Site 2 – DuckDNS → yourname.duckdns.org
istrati.dynu.net      # Site 3 – Dynu    → yourname.dynu.net

ℹ️

DNS takes a few minutes to propagate. After setting the IP, wait 2–5 minutes before testing. You can verify with: ping yourdomain.ddns.net

3

Install Apache on the server

Once

Connect to your server via SSH, then run:

terminal — run as root or with sudo

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y apache2

Check it's running:

terminal

sudo systemctl status apache2

You should see active (running) in green. If you visit your server's IP in a browser you'll see the default Apache page — that's good.

4

Create a folder for each website

Once

Each site needs its own folder. Site 1 already has /var/www/html (Apache's default). Create the others:

terminal

# Site 2 folder
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/sito-alternativo

# Site 3 folder
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/sito-alternativo2

# Give your user write permission
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/sito-alternativo
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/sito-alternativo2

5

Create a landing page for each site

Once

Each folder needs an index.html file. Here are simple examples — customize them however you like.

Site 1 — /var/www/html/index.html

📄/var/www/html/index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html><head>
  <title>Site 1</title>
</head><body>
  <h1>Welcome to Site 1!</h1>
  <p>This is the default site.</p>
</body></html>

Site 2 — create with this command:

terminal

nano /var/www/sito-alternativo/index.html

📄/var/www/sito-alternativo/index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html><head>
  <title>Site 2</title>
</head><body>
  <h1>Welcome to Site 2!</h1>
  <p>This is the second virtual host.</p>
</body></html>

Site 3 — same thing:

terminal

nano /var/www/sito-alternativo2/index.html

📄/var/www/sito-alternativo2/index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html><head>
  <title>Site 3</title>
</head><body>
  <h1>Welcome to Site 3!</h1>
  <p>This is the third virtual host.</p>
</body></html>

ℹ️

In nano: type your content, press Ctrl+O to save, then Ctrl+X to exit.

6

Create the Virtual Host config files

Once

This is the core of Apache shared hosting. Each site gets a .conf file in /etc/apache2/sites-available/. Replace YOURDOMAIN with the actual hostname you registered in Step 2.

Site 1 — edit the existing default:

terminal

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

📄000-default.conf — replace SITE1DOMAIN with e.g. istrati.ddns.net (No-IP)

<VirtualHost SITE1DOMAIN:80>
    ServerAdmin  webmaster@localhost
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html

    ErrorLog  ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Site 2 — create a new file:

terminal

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/sito2.conf

📄sito2.conf — replace SITE2DOMAIN with e.g. istrati.duckdns.org (DuckDNS)

<VirtualHost SITE2DOMAIN:80>
    ServerAdmin  webmaster@localhost
    DocumentRoot /var/www/sito-alternativo

    ErrorLog  ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Site 3 — create another new file:

terminal

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/sito3.conf

📄sito3.conf — replace SITE3DOMAIN with e.g. istrati.dynu.net (Dynu)

<VirtualHost SITE3DOMAIN:80>
    ServerAdmin  webmaster@localhost
    DocumentRoot /var/www/sito-alternativo2

    ErrorLog  ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

⚠️

Important: the domain in the <VirtualHost> tag must exactly match the hostname you registered. No http://, no trailing slash, just the bare hostname.

7

Enable the sites and restart Apache

Once

Use a2ensite to enable each config file, then reload Apache:

terminal

# Enable all three sites
sudo a2ensite 000-default.conf
sudo a2ensite sito2.conf
sudo a2ensite sito3.conf

# Check for syntax errors (optional but good habit)
sudo apache2ctl configtest

# Apply changes
sudo systemctl reload apache2

✅

configtest should say Syntax OK. If it shows an error, re-open the relevant .conf file and check for typos.

ℹ️

What does a2ensite do? It creates a symlink from sites-available/ to sites-enabled/. Apache only reads configs from sites-enabled/.

8

Open port 80 in the firewall

Once

If your server has UFW (Ubuntu's default firewall) enabled, allow HTTP traffic:

terminal

sudo ufw allow 'Apache'
sudo ufw status

You should see Apache listed as ALLOW.

⚠️

Cloud / VPS providers (AWS, DigitalOcean, Hetzner, etc.) also have a firewall/security group in their dashboard. Make sure port 80 (HTTP) is open there too, otherwise the server firewall alone isn't enough.

9

Test everything

Once

Open a browser and visit each of your three domain names:

browser address bar

http://SITE1DOMAIN
http://SITE2DOMAIN
http://SITE3DOMAIN

Each should show a different page. If all three work, you're done! 🎉

Something not working? Checklist:

The domain in the .conf file exactly matches your registered hostname
The DNS hostname points to the correct server IP (verify with ping yourdomain.ddns.net)
sudo apache2ctl configtest says Syntax OK
sudo systemctl status apache2 shows active (running)
Port 80 is open in both UFW and your cloud provider's firewall/security group
The index.html file exists in each DocumentRoot folder

✅

To see Apache's error logs if something is wrong:
sudo tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log

🔧

Quick Reference — useful commands

terminal

# Restart Apache after any config change
sudo systemctl reload apache2

# Full restart (if reload doesn't work)
sudo systemctl restart apache2

# Check Apache status
sudo systemctl status apache2

# List all enabled sites
ls /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/

# Disable a site
sudo a2dissite sito2.conf

# See live error log
sudo tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log

Apache Shared Hosting
from Zero to Three Sites

The Plan

Get your server's public IP address

Register 3 free domain names

Install Apache on the server

Create a folder for each website

Create a landing page for each site

Create the Virtual Host config files

Enable the sites and restart Apache

Open port 80 in the firewall

Test everything

Quick Reference — useful commands

All done! 🚀

Apache Shared Hostingfrom Zero to Three Sites

The Plan

Get your server's public IP address

Register 3 free domain names

Install Apache on the server

Create a folder for each website

Create a landing page for each site

Create the Virtual Host config files

Enable the sites and restart Apache

Open port 80 in the firewall

Test everything

Quick Reference — useful commands

All done! 🚀

Apache Shared Hosting
from Zero to Three Sites