vaddhost - Automatically Configure Virtual Subhosts

The vaddhost utility is an interactive, command-line program that automates the process of configuring Virtual Subhosts. After launching vaddhost, it will ask you several questions about the configuration of your Virtual Subhost and provide you with default responses. As you answer each question, vaddhost will display the <VirtualHost> definition with each new piece of information.

Once you have responded to all questions, vaddhost will create necessary directories, add the <VirtualHost> entry to your main web server configuration file (~/www/conf/httpd.conf), and create a backup of your old ~/www/conf/httpd.conf file in your ~/www/conf directory. You can remove these backup files at your discretion.

To use vaddhost, connect to your Virtual Private Server via SSH or Telnet and do the following.

1. Run the vaddhost command:

   % vaddhost

2. Specify one or more domain names for each Virtual Subhost definition. Typically, Virtual Host Names will at the very least include www.SUBHOST-DOMAIN.NAME and SUBHOST-DOMAIN.NAME

3. Enter the Admin E-Mail Address for the Virtual Subhost. This identifies the person responsible for the Virtual Subhost web site. If the E-Mail address you specify will be a Virtual Private Server E-Mail User Account, you will need to use the vadduser program to add the E-Mail account separately.

   For more information about Virtual Subhosts and E-Mail, see the following.

   • Virtmaps - Providing E-Mail for Virtual Subhosts

4. Enter the Document Root, where the Virtual Subhost's Web content will reside. The value of the Document Root is defined with respect to the Virtual Private Server home directory, so you need not preface your definition with /usr/home/USERNAME. For example, a valid path for a the DocumentRoot migh be /usr/local/etc/httpd/vhosts/SUBHOST-DOMAIN.NAME. The default value for the Document Root directory is located in your ~/usr/local/etc/httpd/vhosts directory. This is to ensure compatibility with Microsoft FrontPage.

5. You can (if you choose) specify separate transfer and error log files for each Virtual Subhost. This is an optional feature. If you do not wish to store separate log files for the Virtual Subhost, the transfer and error log information will be stored in the web server's master log files. If you do wish to store separate transfer and error log files, vaddhost will provide you with several options based on the input you provided for the Virtual Subhost Document Root.

6. You can also (if you choose) configure a cgi-bin directory for your Virtual Subhost. This is an optional feature. The ScriptAlias directive defines where CGI scripts are stored for the Virtual Subhost.

   NOTE: It is important to understand the Virtual Subhosting Security Issues involved when giving cgi-bin access to your Virtual Subhost customers. Giving your Virtual Subhost customers cgi-bin access is a potential security risk! The CGIs your customers upload and execute have all of the rights and privileges of the CGIs you execute. Therefore, it is possible for a Virtual Subhost customer which has been granted CGI privileges to read or remove any file in your directory hierarchy. Moreover, it is possible for a malicious Virtual Subhost customer to crack weak passwords and gain shell access to your Virtual Private Server.