[Coco] [Color Computer] Fw: Security question in Sub-Domains..

[Roger Taylor]

What you've described below is exactly what BlueHost.com gives as part of 
their standard hosting package, and you can set it all up using simple 
control pages.

Actually, it's also easy to screw things up because of all the subdomain 
and add-on domain "redirection" confusion, and you could end up making your 
web site or subdomain go into an infinite loop when somebody visits it.





At 01:01 PM 3/2/2006, you wrote:

>Maybe this helps?
>
>http://builder.com.com/5100-31_14-6042903.html?tag=nl.e416
>
>Rewriting URLs to host multiple domains on a single IP address with Apache
>
>by  Contributor Mellonfire
>
>If you're like most small Web site owners, you probably operate your Web 
>site through a "shared" hosting account with a Web presence provider. 
>Typically, this shared account gives you a unique IP address, a limited 
>amount of disk space and bandwidth on the provider's server, and access to 
>basic commands. Such accounts typically do not include super-user access 
>to the system, nor do they allow you to install your own server programs.
>Until recently, I operated under a common misconception in this regard: 
>every time I purchased a new domain and set up a new Web site, I also 
>purchased a new shared account from my Web hosting provider. Needless to 
>say, this turned out to be an expensive proposition in annual subscription 
>fees. It also wasn't optimal, because the disk space and bandwidth allowed 
>to each account was almost never fully utilized.
>In an effort to control my spiraling costs, I decided to do a little 
>research to see if there wasn't a more efficient way of achieving my 
>goals. And I found out something quite interesting: it's not absolutely 
>necessary to purchase a separate hosting account and IP address for each 
>of your domains. Instead, you can use one of Apache's less well-known 
>features to host multiple domains on a single IP address, significantly 
>reducing your expenditure on hosting fees. Keep reading, and I'll tell you how.
>
>Step 1: Make sure your host uses the Apache Web server
>
>Most Web hosting providers like the Apache Web Server, because it's 
>stable, powerful and easy to configure. It's extremely likely that if your 
>provider runs *NIX, your Web site is being served up by Apache. Check this 
>with a quick email or call to your host's support department.
>Two specific Apache features are required for the following steps:
>The URL rewriting engine, which allows you to automatically reprocess URL 
>requests according to pre-defined rulesets. This engine, mod_rewrite, is 
>usually activated at compile-time, although it is also possible to 
>activate it at run-time as a DSO module.
>Per-directory .htaccess files, which allow you to override Apache's 
>default configuration on a per-directory basis, through the use of special 
>.htaccess files.
>Check with your host's support department if these features are available. 
>The following steps require both features to be active.
>
>Step 2: Create a directory for each domain
>
>In your primary account's public_html/ directory, create the following 
>sub-directory structure:
>vhosts/site1
>      /site2
>Where site1, site2, site3 represent the various domains you wish to host. 
>Populate each of these directories with the Web files for the 
>corresponding domain.
>
>Step 3: Apply rewriting rules
>
>Once the directories are configured, create a file named .htaccess in the 
>main public_html/ directory, and place the following line in it:
>RewriteEngine On
>This activates Apache's URL rewriting engine. Follow this line with 
>rulesets like the one below:
>RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}  site1.com$ [NC]
>RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/vhosts/site1/.*$
>RewriteRule ^(.*)$  /vhosts/site1/$1 [L]
>
>RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}  site2.com$ [NC]
>RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/vhosts/site2/.*$
>RewriteRule ^(.*)$  /vhosts/site2/$1 [L]
>The idea behind this is both simple and elegant. Whenever Apache 
>encounters a request for www.site1.com, it automatically rewrites the URL 
>and serves the contents of the directory /vhosts/site1. Requests for 
>www.site2.com are similarly remapped to the directory /vhosts/site2, and 
>so on. Since the rewriting takes place at the server end, most users will 
>not even know this is happening.
>
>Step 4: Purchase domain pointers from your Web host for the additional domains
>
>The final step is to ask your Web host to publish the names of your 
>various domains in its DNS zone files. This "domain pointer" is 
>essentially a DNS entry that connects your various domains to your primary 
>account's IP address; it can be purchased from most Web hosts for a 
>nominal one-time fee.
>After this is done, whenever a client requests one of your domains, the 
>name server will respond with the IP address of your primary account. When 
>the client attempts to contact that IP address, Apache will examine the 
>domain name being requested and, based on the rewriting rules defined in 
>the previous step, serve up the appropriate page from the domain directory.
>If you have a number of small, medium-traffic Web sites, the above 
>technique is a simple and efficient way to host them without excessive 
>unnecessary expenditure. Try it for yourself and see!
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "George Ramsower" 
><Yahoo at DVDPlayersOnly.com>
>
>>Jim,
>>
>>I wouldn't have any way to use it right now, until I find another 
>>computer to install it on. Right now, I have two boxes that I use for XP 
>>and the second one is a backup for this one. The drives aren't 
>>partitioned for multiple OSs and I'm not going to mess with reformatting 
>>and partitioning either of these two machines, as I use them heavily in 
>>my eCommerce stuff.
>>
>>If I had a third box... well, that would be different.
>...
>
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>


-- 
Roger Taylor