First of all I've looked at "similar threads" without finding an answer. I'm setting up Name-based VH using an IP as the base.
The OS is CentOS 5.4

My config looks like:

NameVirtualHost 12.345.678.90:80
#
# NOTE: NameVirtualHost cannot be used without a port specifier
# (e.g. :80) if mod_ssl is being used, due to the nature of the
# SSL protocol.
#


<Directory "/home/dev1">
Order Deny,Allow
Allow from all
</Directory>


<VirtualHost 12.345.678.90:80>

DocumentRoot /var/www/html
ServerName localhost
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost 12.345.678.90:80>

DocumentRoot /home/dev1
ServerName dev1
</VirtualHost>

The names are of course not in DNS so to access the server from my local Windows machine I had to use the hosts file:

12.345.678.90 dev1

Entering dev1 in my browser *does* take me to the server but it takes me to default VH (DocumentRoot /var/www/html). What am I overlooking?

Thanks

I think you need the UserDir directive enabled http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_userdir.html

I think you also have to configure the "fake" DNS for dev1 and localhost on your linux server otherwise the VirtualHost directive will not work.

Thanks but that's not it. UserDir is directory mapping ala Alias and AliasMatch. None of them alter the DocumentRoot.

Hmmmmm . . .okay I'll give that a go.

I tried that - setting an entry in etc/hosts but it still didn't work.

Just did a small test, here are my results:
- Adding the hostname to /etc/hosts works fine, no need to restart anything...
- For testing if the hostname is working, on the Linux Server use 'ping myname',
do not use 'host myname' it didn't work.
- Remember to clear the cache of your browser after making changes to the configuration files.

Don't include this virtual conf in the main apache conf file, instead make two files in /etc/httpd/conf.d/ as

1. default.conf
2. <your ip>.conf

And put the virtual host information there.

In default.conf Put /var/www/html as documentroot with default configuration.
Modify <your ip>.conf accordingly.



Regards,
Sandeep S

POV, here's another, easier, option, change all your 12.345.678.90:80 entries to *:80.

1. leave your hosts file as is since it directs your machine to resolve dev1 to your localhost
2. using name based VHs *:80 tells your apache process to listen and read host headers on port 80
3. when your browser hits your apache server it will take dev1 which is presented as a 'host header' to apache and look for the matching ServerName in your VH section and it will server up that content in it.

this is an excellent example: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.1/vho....html#purename

BTW,

<Directory "/home/dev1">
Order Deny,Allow
Allow from all
</Directory>

is just getting in the way

and make ServerName the first line in your VH stanza. it makes it easier to read..

Thanks to jhcaiced, sandeep.sp and leenucks for their answers. I tried leenucks' approach first because I mean c'mon . . way too simple. I started out using the wildcard instead of the IP so no way it will work. Except . . it did. lol. So thanks again. Oh but I'll keep my doc root first . . . . I like it that way.

-----------------------------
Not quite. It brings up the authentication which means it's finding the right directory but on login it attempts to find dev1/dev1 and of course gives a 404 error.

if you're trying to make this harder for yourself, have at it.. :-). wildcards work very well... there are a few instances were you don't want wildcard but generally it makes migrations and setting up new non-ssl sites much easier.. best of luck..

Lol. I think you missed the point of my post which is "it worked." I was describing my initial reaction to your suggestion. But yeah the wildcards are it. Thanks again.

The problem now is that it calls a non-existent directory