Apache: install and virtual hosts

In this article you'll install the Apache web server on your mHost VPS, set up a virtual host (VirtualHost) for a site, check the configuration, and open the necessary firewall ports — ending up with a working Apache that serves your site over HTTP.

What you'll need

• SSH access to the server as root or as a user with sudo.
• An mHost VPS on one of the supported OSes: Ubuntu 22.04/24.04, Debian 11/12, AlmaLinux/Rocky Linux 8/9.
• (optional) a domain name whose A record points at the server's IP — for testing, the IP alone works fine.

Step 1. Install Apache

Debian / Ubuntu

The package is called apache2:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2

AlmaLinux / Rocky Linux

The package is called httpd:

sudo dnf install httpd

Step 2. Enable and start Apache

Debian / Ubuntu

sudo systemctl enable --now apache2
sudo systemctl status apache2

AlmaLinux / Rocky Linux

sudo systemctl enable --now httpd
sudo systemctl status httpd

The --now flag both enables autostart on boot and starts the service right away. The status output should show active (running). Open http://<IP>/ (your server's IP address) in a browser — you should see Apache's default test page.

Step 3. Create a virtual host (VirtualHost)

A virtual host describes a single site on the server: its own DocumentRoot (file directory), domain name, and logs. Below is an example for the domain example.com — replace it with your own.

Create a directory for the site's files and a test page (the same on every system):

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com/public_html
echo "<h1>It works: example.com</h1>" | sudo tee /var/www/example.com/public_html/index.html

Debian / Ubuntu

Create the file /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.com.conf:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.com.conf

and paste into it:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    ServerAdmin admin@example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com/public_html

    <Directory /var/www/example.com/public_html>
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

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

AlmaLinux / Rocky Linux

Create the file /etc/httpd/conf.d/example.com.conf:

sudo nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/example.com.conf

and paste into it (the log paths differ — there's no APACHE_LOG_DIR variable here):

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    ServerAdmin admin@example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com/public_html

    <Directory /var/www/example.com/public_html>
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/example.com-error.log
    CustomLog /var/log/httpd/example.com-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Step 4. Enable the site and modules: a2ensite / a2enmod

Debian / Ubuntu

Debian and Ubuntu keep all sites in sites-available/ and enable them via a symlink in sites-enabled/; you don't need to create the symlink by hand — a2ensite does it (give it the site name together with .conf):

sudo a2ensite example.com.conf

Apache modules are enabled with a similar command, a2enmod — for example, mod_rewrite (often needed together with AllowOverride All for .htaccess rules):

sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo systemctl restart apache2

AlmaLinux / Rocky Linux

There's no separate a2ensite equivalent here: any *.conf file you drop into /etc/httpd/conf.d/ is loaded automatically by Apache at startup — via the IncludeOptional conf.d/*.conf directive in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf. Most standard modules (including mod_rewrite) are already enabled by default on AlmaLinux/Rocky — their LoadModule directives live in /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/.

Step 5. Test the configuration and reload Apache

Always check the configuration syntax before reloading — the command is the same on every distro:

sudo apachectl configtest

A valid configuration replies with Syntax OK; on an error, apachectl points to the file and line.

Debian / Ubuntu

sudo systemctl reload apache2

AlmaLinux / Rocky Linux

sudo systemctl reload httpd

You can check that the virtual host answered with the right site even before the domain points at the server, using the Host header:

curl -H 'Host: example.com' http://localhost/

The response should be your test page "It works: example.com".

Step 6. Open the firewall ports

Apache listens on port 80 (HTTP) and, once you add TLS, also port 443 (HTTPS); these ports need to be open in the firewall, or the site will stay unreachable from outside.

Debian / Ubuntu

The apache2 package registers the Apache Full ufw profile itself, which opens both ports at once:

sudo ufw app list
sudo ufw allow 'Apache Full'

If that profile isn't in the list (on Debian, it isn't always registered), open the ports by number instead:

sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp

AlmaLinux / Rocky Linux

Ports are opened through firewalld:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

What's next

Apache is installed, the virtual host is configured, and the ports are open — the site is reachable over HTTP. From here you can:

• add another VirtualHost the same way (Step 3) — for a second domain on the same server;
• set up a TLS certificate so the site loads over HTTPS;
• if you haven't logged in to the panel yet, start with "How to log in to VMmanager 6"; the full list of ready-made recipes (including LAMP) is in "Ready-made VMmanager 6 recipes".