Multiple Apache VirtualHosts and Users
Should each VirtualHost have it's own user account?
Ie:
Or is this unnecessary and more complicated than it's worth?
5 Replies
I have a lot of virtual hosts which are owned by nobody. Since they have their own content management and users are in the website not at the unix level.
If you have users that need to ftp/scp content to them, then they most likely have some ownership of the site.
@Dweeber:
Depends on how it is setup.
I have a lot of virtual hosts which are owned by nobody. Since they have their own content management and users are in the website not at the unix level.
If you have users that need to ftp/scp content to them, then they most likely have some ownership of the site.
How does one set up a VH to be owned by nobody?
The only one that's going to be doing any ftp/scp is me, and I've created a separate user account for myself already. I wasn't too keen on the idea of having all the website files created under my userspace as that didn't seem wise.
Right now I only have the one domain which is my playground; but I plan on adding at least one more to test out some ideas I've had.
drwxr-xr-x 7 nobody nogroup 4096 May 10 22:47 acils
drwxr-xr-x 36 cumuls nogroup 4096 May 22 20:41 cumuls
drwxr-xr-x 14 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:06 droid
drwxr-xr-x 3 nobody nogroup 4096 May 12 11:44 junk
drwxr-xr-x 3 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:23 lists
drwxr-xr-x 10 nobody nogroup 4096 May 6 16:21 milkyrobot
drwxr-xr-x 8 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:23 oacil
drwxr-xr-x 11 nobody nogroup 4096 Mar 11 09:25 rc
drwx------ 2 root root 4096 May 19 13:49 .retired
drwxr-xr-x 13 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:24 sww
drwxr-xr-x 10 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:24 tef
drwxr-xr-x 35 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:06 tnet
drwxr-xr-x 5 nobody nogroup 4096 May 10 16:38 tnetly
drwxr-xr-x 11 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:24 tnetsupport
drwxr-xr-x 13 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:25 ulterius
drwxr-xr-x 66 wetter nogroup 12288 May 22 20:41 wetter
drwxr-xr-x 14 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:25 worms
The only thing a virtual host needs really is DNS which is a cname to the host. The only two above are weather related sites and they have users that "own" them so that data can be SCP'd to them.
Making a new vhost…
o Create dns for new hosts.
o cd /www/vhosts/
o mkdir somename
o scp content to the somename directory OR copy blank wikiweb to directory.
o set permissions
o add entry to /www/etc/virtualhosts
o restart webserver
o done. Start access to do whatever.
Typically takes longer for the DNS change to take place than setting up the site.
All of my virtual vhosts can be moved from host to host. those that use a database, need an export and import but I have a lot of wiki based sites that dont use a database and are like content management systems built in.
@Dweeber:
Do it all the time.
drwxr-xr-x 7 nobody nogroup 4096 May 10 22:47 acils drwxr-xr-x 36 cumuls nogroup 4096 May 22 20:41 cumuls drwxr-xr-x 14 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:06 droid drwxr-xr-x 3 nobody nogroup 4096 May 12 11:44 junk drwxr-xr-x 3 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:23 lists drwxr-xr-x 10 nobody nogroup 4096 May 6 16:21 milkyrobot drwxr-xr-x 8 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:23 oacil drwxr-xr-x 11 nobody nogroup 4096 Mar 11 09:25 rc drwx------ 2 root root 4096 May 19 13:49 .retired drwxr-xr-x 13 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:24 sww drwxr-xr-x 10 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:24 tef drwxr-xr-x 35 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:06 tnet drwxr-xr-x 5 nobody nogroup 4096 May 10 16:38 tnetly drwxr-xr-x 11 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:24 tnetsupport drwxr-xr-x 13 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:25 ulterius drwxr-xr-x 66 wetter nogroup 12288 May 22 20:41 wetter drwxr-xr-x 14 nobody nogroup 4096 May 22 07:25 wormsThe only thing a virtual host needs really is DNS which is a cname to the host. The only two above are weather related sites and they have users that "own" them so that data can be SCP'd to them.
Making a new vhost…
o Create dns for new hosts.
o cd /www/vhosts/
o mkdir somename
o scp content to the somename directory OR copy blank wikiweb to directory.
o set permissions
o add entry to /www/etc/virtualhosts
o restart webserver
o done. Start access to do whatever.
Typically takes longer for the DNS change to take place than setting up the site.
All of my virtual vhosts can be moved from host to host. those that use a database, need an export and import but I have a lot of wiki based sites that dont use a database and are like content management systems built in.
This is probably going to sound stupid, but what I actually meant is do I need to create a user "nobody"? Or is there a system default that I can use?
This is my first foray into running my own web server from the ground up, but not entirely my first foray into using Linux. There are some things I'm fine with and others that are totally foreign, so I apologize if it seems like I already ought to know.
If you are using Linux, you most likely already have those on your box.
However, the key is to use what the default web server uses when it runs.
Typically, it is started by root, but then switches to a non-root account for security. In an Apache httpd.conf file the user it uses is typically listed like:
# If you wish httpd to run as a different user or group, you must run
# httpd as root initially and it will switch.
#
# User/Group: The name (or #number) of the user/group to run httpd as.
# It is usually good practice to create a dedicated user and group for
# running httpd, as with most system services.
#
User nobody
Group nogroup
PM sent.