Virtual Hosts

Get the latest version from here: https://github.com/manngo/virtual-hosts/releases/latest.

Introduction

An Electron-based tool to simplify editing the hosts file and to create virtual hosts.

The application has the following benefits:

• Direct access to the relevant files
• It will ask for the administrator password to save protected files

Note:

• The application has settings for XAMPP & MAMP.
• AMPPS & WAMP have virtual host settings built in. However, you will still need to add the domain to the hosts file.

To add a virtual host:

1. Add the domain to the hosts file At this stage, if that’s all you intend to do, you can finish. This is the case with AMPPS and WAMP. If, however, you are using XAMPP or MAMP, read on …
2. Choose the Server Platform from the drop down.
3. Allow Virtual Hosts
4. Add the Virtual Host directive

Editing the hosts File

Needless to say, you can really make a mess here, and break things. Be Careful.

• Select the hosts File tab.

• To add a local virtual domain, add something like the following:

   127.0.0.1	www.example.com
  

• Save (Command-S or Ctrl-S)

  You will be asked for the administrator password.

Allowing Virtual Hosts

• Select the httpd.conf tab

• Somewhere towards the end of the httpd.conf file, there is the following:

  # Virtual hosts
  #Include etc/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
  

• Remove the comment (#):

  # Virtual hosts
  Include etc/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
  

• Save

The Virtual Host Directive

The Virtual Host directive needs to be added. The easy way is to use the Generator tab to generate the directive.

• Select the Generator tab.

You will need to add the following:

• Project Name: A simple name for the project, such as example. It will also be used to name the log files.

• Virtual Domain: The Domain Name, such as www.example.com (without the http:// protocol). When working, you can use http://www.example.com from your browser.

• Document Root: The full path name of you web root folder. For example:

  Mac: /Users/mark/Documents/example Win: C:\users\mark\Documents\example

  For Windows, you can use the forward slash (/) or backslash (\).

You can then generate the directive by clicking on the Generate button, or clicking inside the result area.

Copy the result and …

• Select the Virtual Hosts tab
• Paste the result at the bottom of the section
• Save

Note: the result includes additional directives which should not be added again if you are adding multiple Virtual Hosts:

XAMPP

The XAMPP result includes a Required Default section which should not be added again.

MAMP

The MAMP result includes a NameVirtualHost *:80 directive which should not be added again.