Need help with subdomans on Apache server

[Rex__]

Hello all. I could really use some help....

I have a page which currently uses a url with this format:

http://www.mysite.com/users/showuser.php?userid=34

I'd like to use what i have heard of as "clean" domains, subdomains, or third-level domains in this format:

http://users.mysite.com/34

The following is a long list of things i have tried (yes this is making me crazy!). I am testing it on my computer, so I have complete access to all config/access files

I have tried using Alias to change the /users/ directory to the full server path of the showuser.php file.. didn't work

I have tried using simple rewriting (the module was already compiled and i used the "RewriteEngine on" directive in and out fo the the virtualhost) and it does nothing at all. I can't even get it to do a simple redirect to, say, yahoo.com for testing purposes. I don't know much about unix and grep patterns anyway.

I have tried using a virtualhost and pointing the DocumentRoot to the script. This didn't work. I tried changing the server name and alias also... didn't work. This is an example below

NameVirtualHost users.mysite.com
<VirtualHost users.mysite.com>
DocumentRoot /htdocs/users/showuser.php
ServerName users.mysite.com
ServerAlias users
</VirtualHost>

I even tried the following, in hopes of parsing the REQUEST_URI environment variable in php, then redirecting to the "clean" url:

<VirtualHost users.mysite.com>
ErrorDocument 404 /error.php
</VirtualHost>

That didnt' work either. I want to use data from the POST query method anyway, which isn't passed to error docs, to my knowledge.

I am using win98 and apache 1.3.x.

I read alot about the ForceType and AddType directives on this site, but I don't think it applies, since the clean url has no subdirectory. I also read about running Apache as a module. Does this matter? What exactly does this mean anyway? I have read that there are many problems with win98 and using many directives. One more thing - My ISP allows subdomains, and I set up the users.mysite.com DNS on my ISP, but I'm not sure if this matters.

I'd appreciate any help from all you networking folks 🙂

[tha_mink]

Use virtual hosts...

<VirtualHost *>
ServerAdmin [e-mail]
DocumentRoot /pub/web/users
ServerName users.site.com

<Directory "/pub/web/users">
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

</VirtualHost>

rename showuser.php to index.php and link as necc. When you have a url like http://users.site.com/34 a directory is expected by apache. I don't know what your specs are but do you need a directory for every user? I assume if you use http://users.site.com you expect your users to sign in? I guess the question is "What do you have showuser.php doing and what data does it expect to receive?"

virtual hosts will work but you need to configure them correctly. the above is the correct vh definition assuming you have the line:

NameVirtualHost *

instead of

NameVirtualHost your.ip.address.here

It's weird but that's how it works.

so...

NameVirtualHost *

<VirtualHost *> 
ServerAdmin [e-mail]
DocumentRoot /pub/web/site 
ServerName www.site.com
ServerAlias site.com

<Directory "/pub/web/site"> 
AllowOverride None 
Order allow,deny 
Allow from all 
</Directory> 

</VirtualHost> 

<VirtualHost *> 
ServerAdmin [e-mail]
DocumentRoot /pub/web/users 
ServerName users.site.com

<Directory "/pub/web/users"> 
AllowOverride None 
Order allow,deny 
Allow from all 
</Directory> 

</VirtualHost> 

[bretticus]

One more thing - My ISP allows subdomains, and I set up the users.mysite.com DNS on my ISP, but I'm not sure if this matters.

IT DEFINATELY MATTERS!

In fact, you may not get any results UNTIL the DNS propogation is complete because if you can't send the HOST header to Apache, even "star-ing" the <VirtualHost *> ;-) will yield you no results! No ip mapping through DNS, no request sent.

ALSO...

Windows likes those file paths, windows-like ;-)

<VirtualHost *>
ServerAdmin [e-mail]
DocumentRoot "C:\Apache\www\mysite"
ServerName mysite.com
ErrorLog "C:\Apache\www\mysite\error.log"
</VirtualHost>

[Rex__]

Thanks for your ideas, but I still can't get it to work. I'm really at my wit's end here.

tha_mink, I don't need a directory for each user. The showuser.php page is just going to show a simple user profile from the database. All the page needs is a userid.

I changed the showuser.php file name to index.php, which apache will automatically parse on my server.

This is the what I have used so far in the config file (with the domain changed since I really don't want anyone to see my horrible work in progress :-) ) :

NameVirtualHost *

<VirtualHost *>
ServerAdmin [e-mail]
DocumentRoot "C:\apache\www"
ServerName www.mysite.com
ServerAlias mysite.com
<Directory "C:\apache\www">
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *>
ServerAdmin [e-mail]
DocumentRoot "C:\apache\www\users"
ServerName users.mysite.com
ErrorLog "C:\apache\www\users\error.log"
<Directory "C:\apache\www\users">
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

And this is the URL I tried in my browser:

http://users.mysite.com/34

And this is the apache 404 error I get:

Not Found
The requested URL /34 was not found on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Apache/1.3.23 Server at www.mysite.com/users Port 80

It doesn't even write to the error log, which has no text in it when I open it. The path of the error log file is correct. Is this important? Could it be that it's not finding the index.php file for the same reason it's not finding the error.log file? The last line of the error message tells me that it's redirecting properly (www.mysite.com/users is the original directory which still exists AND contains the index.php file). On the other hand, Apache DOES lock the file, and I have to stop the server in order to open it. How can it find it to lock it, but not find it to write to it? Does this even matter?

I am a networking newbie, if you haven't guessed already :-)
I'd appreciate any help or ideas.

[bretticus]

I must admit, when I read this last night I didn't pay much attention about the whole 34 thingy.

I think what you need to do is dirty up your cleanliness ;-)

You need to keep your Apache VirtualHost stuff as is and use ForceType and AddType directives if you plan on passing that 34 value to a script to be queried from your database.

You'll ulimately end up with something like:

http://users.mysite.com/home/34

home being the name of the script.

If you have any questions, I'll go into greater detail, seems you have figured out much of what you need to do though. I know DNS is working on the subdomain because you are getting a Web server error response.

[bretticus]

You need to keep your Apache VirtualHost stuff as is and use ForceType and AddType directives if you plan on passing that 34 value to a script to be queried from your database.

Whoops...I thought you meant 'Location' when you said 'AddType', and I pasted it into my last response. So in your httpd.conf you end up with this:

<Location /home>
ForceType application/x-httpd-php
</Location>

or in an .htaccess file in the root of your users folder:

<Files home>
ForceType application/x-httpd-php
</Files>

[tha_mink]

Yeah..I didn't see the 34 bit either...there is a good tutorial on the subject here...

http://php.inc.ru/main.php?view=tutorials&t=a_force

tha_mink

[bretticus]

forgot to mention that the location directive needs to be within your...

<VirtualHost *>
ServerAdmin [e-mail]
DocumentRoot "C:\apache\www\users"
ServerName users.mysite.com
ErrorLog "C:\apache\www\users\error.log"
<Directory "C:\apache\www\users">
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

tags.

However, I don't believe it works with Win32. Rather, you can use the .htaccess file and the...

<Files home>
ForceType application/x-httpd-php
</Files>

directive.

[Rex__]

Hey Bretticus,

I tried using a subdirectory already. It kinda worked (I got the users file to be treated as a file, and not a directory), but I was wondering if there was a way of just using a subdomain. The goal was to make it easy for the members to remember the entire url of their profile, and to get the pages indexed by the web bots that ignore query strings.

I got a url like http://users.mysite.com/users/34 to almost work by using ForceType on the users file (no extension) to have apache parse it as a php file. I remember having problems with apache's "lookback", and it still insisted that "34" was a directory. I probably could have gotten it to work if I tried more things, but I was wondering if it was possible to simplify the URL by not using the subdirectory at all, like http://users.mysite.com/34 .

I know it's possible (yahoo uses this format for it's member profiles). I may have bitten off more than i can chew though. I'm a student and can't afford the networking folk that yahoo can. 🙁

[bretticus]

Well, if you used ForceType with users, I dunno why Apache is insisting that it's a directory, unless it's the Win32 problem I mentioned. I've done the Files-ForceType thingy on Win2k with no problems. As for the simpler url http://users.mysite.com/34 ... this may be possible with mod rewrite and the proper rewrite rule. I'm no expert here though.

Good Luck!