Virtual Hosting: Types, Architecture, Uses & Benefits

What do you know about virtual hosting? Well, whether you have come across virtual hosting for the hundredth time or you are just hearing it for the first time, you have landed at the right article.

This article will serve as a complete Wikipedia for anything you want about virtual hosting, from its uses to its types and architecture. We will also look at how you can create virtual hosts yourself.

You just have to read to the end!

What is Virtual Hosting?

Virtual hosting is hosting several domain names on a single server. It simply means hosting multiple websites on one machine. This server can share all its resources, such as CPU and memory cycles, with the hosted domains.

Virtual hosting and shared hosting

Think of shared hosting services anytime you hear of virtual hosting. The reason is that shared hosting is one of the major applications of virtual hosting. And it involves using a single machine for multiple names (domains).

Virtual hosting is not only about web servers alone but can also extend to other internet cloud services.

Virtual hosting solutions

Thanks to cloud computing and top cloud service providers, we now have different virtual hosting solutions, such as virtual server hosting, virtual application hosting, and virtual storage hosting.

Who uses virtual hosting?

Virtual hosting is mainly used by large computing companies to provide cheap hosting services for personal and small business sites.

Ways to Configure a Virtual Host

You can configure virtual hosts in three ways, which are;

• Name-Based virtual hosting
• IP-Based virtual hosting
• Port-Based virtual hosting

Let's check them out one by one.

1. Name-Based virtual hosting

The name-based virtual host is the most popular among several technology users worldwide. And it simply involves using multiple hostnames for one IP address. For example, one machine can receive requests for two domains which can both be traced to one IP address.

However, one con of the name-based virtual host technique is that it's difficult to host many secure websites that run TLS/SSL.

2. IP-Based virtual hosting

IP-Based is the simplest method of virtual hosting configuration that even beginners can use to apply different demands based on the IP address. It involves using multiple IP addresses for each domain name. Therefore, you will need to create multiple IP addresses for a single server, and these IP addresses will then lead to the server's domains.

A con of the IP-based technique is that the server needs a dedicated IP address for each website.

3. Port-Based virtual hosting

Most people confuse port-based with IP-based due to their similar configuration processes. However, unlike IP-based, where you need to use a separate IP address for all virtual hosts, port-based involves using different ports. And this time around, you will need to configure the servers to respond to the websites that use the server's ports.

A disadvantage of this technique is that it can be stressful and time-consuming.

How Can I Create a Virtual Host?

In this section, we will look at how to create a virtual host using the Apache hosts and the Ubuntu Operating System. A simple reason why we chose Apache is that it is easy to use and reliable. Also, let's assume our domain to be Founderjar.com.

You need the Ubuntu Operating system and the Apache installation. If you do not have Apache, then you can use the following commands to install it.

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install apache2

Step 1: Set Up a Directory Structure

The first thing that you need to do is to set up a directory structure for storing site data or accepting data from visitors. Use this command to create a directory structure under the /var/www directory document root.

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/founderjar.com/public_html

Step 2: Permissions

It is the root user that owns the directory structure that we created above. But you can change it, especially if you want to modify the web directories’ files. These are the commands to use.

sudo chown -R $USER : $YOUR_USER_NAME /var/ www/ founderjar.com /public_html

Step 3: Make Demo Pages for Each Virtual Host

So let's create a test page for Founderjar.com. You need to open the page with a vi or any other preferred editor.

vi /var/www/founderjar.com/public_html/index.html

After opening, write a few basic HTML lines, save the editor, and close. This is what it looks like.

<html>
<head>
<title>Home Page of Founderjar.com<title>
</head>

<body>
<h1>Wow, the Founderjar virtual host is working! </h1>

</body>

</html>

Step 4: Set up new files for the virtual host

Apache has a default virtual host configuration file which is called 000-default.conf. And we will need to use it.

But before that, let's copy the Apache conf file to our chosen Founderjar.com domain with the following commands.

sudo cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf /etc/apache2/sitesavailable/founderjar.conf

After doing this, open it with your preferred editor. This is what it looks like.

<VirtualHost> *:80>

ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost

DocumentRoot /var/www/html

ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log

CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

Additionally, you have to change the email to that of the server admin using this command.

ServerAdmin admin@founderjar.com

Also, you need to add the ServerName and ServerAlias directives using these commands.

ServerName founderjar.com

ServerAlias www.founderjar.com

The last thing to do under this step is to change the location of the document root of our chosen domain. Use this command to do this.

DocumentRoot /var/www/founderjar.com/public_html.

Step 5: Enable Files of Virtual Host

After setting up your virtual files, you should enable them. Below is the command to use.

sudo a2ensite founderjar.com.conf

Also, you need to restart your Apache server.

sudo service apache2 restart

Step 6: Test your results

Now you are done. And the next activity to do is to test your results. To do this, you simply have to open up a web browser and enter the domain name of your website, for example, founderjar.com. Then, it will bring the page depending on your HTML file.

Success! The Founderjar virtual host is working!

What are the Benefits of Virtual Hosting?

1. Virtual Hosting Saves Costs and Space

Cost reduction is the most important benefit of virtual hosting. If you use virtual hosts, you will have to pay less than the usual pricing for a VPS or dedicated hosting service since you will have to share the costs with other users that are on the servers. And yet, you will still enjoy multiple features such as unmetered disk space and unlimited bandwidth for your website.

There are even web hosting providers that give you access to top-notch hosting features starting from $5 per month. Contrarily, It's difficult to get such a cheap price with any other type of hosting. With virtual hosting, you also get to save migration costs because you can keep your old Operating System running in a virtual machine when you move to a new Operating System.

Also, virtual hosting saves space. For example, when multiple users share a server, then the number of physical devices that need installation will be limited. And this will lead to an increase in the available space in racks.

2. Virtual Hosting is Flexible and Reliable

Flexibility is another top benefit of virtual hosting. With virtual hosting, you only use what you can pay for without any stress. You can start with the cheapest plans and then upgrade to more expensive plans when you need more features and resources as your website grows.

Virtual hosting is an ideal hosting solution for adjusting to various workloads conveniently. Furthermore, virtual hosting is reliable because of the high uptime guarantee that most virtual servers offer. When software malfunctions, you can continue to enjoy other services without experiencing any breakdowns.

Thus, you can rest assured that you will enjoy the necessary hosting and web server resources at the right time.

3. Virtual Hosting is Professionally Managed

One thing about virtual hosting is that it comes with centralized server management. For example, it's your host that bears the headache of managing and running the web server at an optimum performance level. Also, they are responsible for taking care of general server functions.

Thus, you only have low-maintenance tasks to handle. And in fact, most hosts offer a simple-to-use control panel that lets you manage your website with comfort. You get to enjoy a simplified user interface for managing minor administrative tasks. Additionally, you can enjoy professional technical assistance, such as software updates from your host, periodically.

4. Virtual Hosting Allows Multiple Domains and Dynamic Websites

Install multiple websites in your user directory with virtual hosts. All you need to do is to ensure that your purchased domains are connected to the user directory. For example, if you have different domains for personal and business websites, then you should consider using virtual hosting to host these domains on a single web server. Furthermore, you can use virtual hosting for hosting dynamic websites and content management systems such as Joomla and WordPress.

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