ServerAlias instead of Redirect? and httpd.conf question(s)

[young]

edit: instead of using Domain Pointers to Redirect.

where can i get more information about ./directadmin/data/users/admin/httpd.conf ?
how is it generated?
is it regenerated from scratch when i modify a domain?
if i modify the file will the modifications stick after i save settings in directadmin?

is there a way i can add ServerAlias's in directadmin or do i have to use Redirect?
if i had a couple of domains and wanted them to point to one main domain, would it be better to use ServerAlias?

for example:
<VirtualHost x.x.x.x:80>

ServerName www.main.com
ServerAlias www.main.com main.com *alias1.com *alias2.com
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^main\.com$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(.*\.)?alias.\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.main.com/$1 [R=301,L]

</VirtualHost>


if i decide to just use ServerAlias instead of Redirect's, do i still have to add the domain names in the dns admin and ip manager?
would i have to have to go to "your user -> modify dns record" and manually add:

ftp A x.x.x.x
alias.com. A x.x.x.x
localhost.alias.com. A 127.0.0.1
mail A x.x.x.x
pop A x.x.x.x
www A x.x.x.x
alias.com. NS ns1.xxx.com.
alias.com. NS ns2.xxx.com.
alias.com. MX 0

[DirectAdmin Support]

Hello,

Those files are rewritten each time a change is made. You can customize how DirectAdmin does it's virtual hosts 2 ways

1) modify the template
2) use the custom httpd.conf feature


1) the templates are located in /usr/local/directadmin/data/templates/virtual_host*.conf. If you want to make changes, first copy them to the custom folder, then make changes to the copied file (main virtual_host*.conf files will be overwritten during updates. custom virutal_host*.conf files take priority).

For the new templates to take effect, you have to run:
echo "action=rewrite&value=httpd" >> /usr/local/directadmin/data/task.queue

2) Admin Panel -> Admin Settings -> cutom httpd configuraitions -> domain.com -> add the changes needed. Note that the changes will be inserted into the |CUSTOM| token from the template, so this may or may not work for your needs.

John

[S2S-Robert]

this all seem rather technical, why is the redirect option not preferable?

[young]

i thought adding a ServerAlias would be simpler and more efficient than adding a Redirect.



<VirtualHost x.x.x.x:80>
ServerName www.main.com
ServerAlias www.main.com main.com www.pointer.com pointer.com
</VirtualHost>


instead of



<VirtualHost x.x.x.x:80>
ServerName pointer.com
ServerAlias pointer.com www.pointer.com
Redirect / http://www.main.com/
</VirtualHost>

[ilan]

1) the templates are located in /usr/local/directadmin/data/templates/virtual_host*.conf. If you want to make changes, first copy them to the custom folder, then make changes to the copied file (main virtual_host*.conf files will be overwritten during updates. custom virutal_host*.conf files take priority).


Can't find the word "Redirect" in those files, so which is the template for Domain Pointers creation?

Thanks
Ilan

[DirectAdmin Support]

Hello,

Redirects are hard coded.. To create the ServerAlias, you'd just manually get the domain pointing to the correct IP, and then add:

ServerAlias pointer.com www.pointer.com

To the domain.com's custom httpd.conf file using:
Admin Panel -> Admin Settings -> Cusomize httpd.conf -> domain.com
Note that you must use this feature or else any manual changes to the users' httpd.conf will dissapear when changes are made.

I think the ServerAlias method would actually be more efficient. It can be changed.. but we'd just need to make sure that everyone who has ever created a custom/virtual_host*.conf file adds the required tokens to their files.

John

[ilan]

The web alias works fine, but now I have two more new questions:

1.- What should I do to configure also those pointers as mail-server aliases?

2.- Do you know if I need to do something "extra" to enable Webalizer to analyze (and maybe differentiate) the traffic received through those aliases?

[DirectAdmin Support]

Hello,

1) add the domain into both the /etc/virtual/domains and /etc/virtual/domainowners file. You'll need to also create a symbolic link from /etc/virtual/pointer.com to /etc/virtual/real.com and /var/spool/virtual/pointer.com to /var/spool/virtual/real.com

2) The log files would be the same, so webalizer would be parsing both domains. The logs don't store any domain dependant info, so I don't think it would know any different.

John