Server Document Root changes after adding new Virtual Host

Question

Ubuntu 18.04.3, Virtualmin 6.08, Webmin 1.932

Something strange is happening.

If I have nothing in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled

then I can access the Server's Homepage: ns.server.com (/var/www/html)

and ns.server.com/phpmyadmin works fine

If I add a virtual host, or enable a site with

a2ensite domain.com (+ reload apache)

then I got 403 Forbidden when I try to access ns.server.com

and ns.server.com/phpmyadmin download the php file instead of executing it.

If I a2dissite domain.com (+ reload apache)

everything works normally again.

/etc/apache2/apache2.conf:

DefaultRuntimeDir ${APACHE_RUN_DIR}
PidFile ${APACHE_PID_FILE}
Timeout 300
KeepAlive On
MaxKeepAliveRequests 100
KeepAliveTimeout 5
User ${APACHE_RUN_USER}
Group ${APACHE_RUN_GROUP}
HostnameLookups Off
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
LogLevel warn
IncludeOptional mods-enabled/*.load
IncludeOptional mods-enabled/*.conf
Include ports.conf
<Directory />
    Options FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
    Require all denied
</Directory>
<Directory /usr/share>
    AllowOverride None
    Require all granted
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/>
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
    Require all granted
</Directory>
AccessFileName .htaccess
<FilesMatch "^\.ht">
    Require all denied
</FilesMatch>
LogFormat "%v:%p %h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" vhost_combined
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" combined
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O" common
LogFormat "%{Referer}i -> %U" referer
LogFormat "%{User-agent}i" agent
IncludeOptional conf-enabled/*.conf
IncludeOptional sites-enabled/*.conf
SSLProtocol ALL -SSLv2 -SSLv3
SSLCipherSuite HIGH:!SSLv2:!ADH:!aNULL:!eNULL:!NULL
<IfModule php7_module>
    AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
    AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps
    <IfModule dir_module>
        DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
    </IfModule>
</IfModule>

Can anybody help figuring out what is going on? Thanks,

UPDATE

So it seems that ns.server.com always points to the public_html of the alphabetically first site that is in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled. If I put index.html there I can access ns.server.com.

Also if I run php as Apache user in the first virtual host then ns.server.com/phpmyadmin works as well.

So there is a workaround, but it is sooooooooo strange :-o

Any ideas?

could you perhaps show your apache config file please? – suspectus Nov 13 '19 at 19:42 — suspectus, Nov 13 '19 at 19:42
I added the apache config file. – Zoltan Nov 13 '19 at 19:58 — Zoltan, Nov 13 '19 at 19:58

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 13 '19 at 20:23

0

In short, as best-practice, define a _default_ virtualhost.

i.e.

<VirtualHost _default_:*>
    DocumentRoot "/www/default"
</VirtualHost>

You can also add it to an existing virtualhost directive... if needed:

<VirtualHost _default_:* 1.2.3.4:80>
    DocumentRoot "/www/some_website"
</VirtualHost>

answered Nov 13 '19 at 20:23

TheCompWiz

7,409
17
23

Thanks, this works :) – Zoltan Nov 13 '19 at 20:57

Server Document Root changes after adding new Virtual Host

1 Answers1