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What is a Virtual Host? How to Set Up Virtual Hosts on XAMPP
Sep 16, 2026Virtual Hosts are arguably one of the most popular technologies in the storage technology field. This is a method through which a server can serve multiple different websites simultaneously. If you do not know much about Virtual Hosts, this article is for you!
What is a Virtual Host?
As mentioned, Virtual Hosts (virtual servers) were created for the purpose of serving the hosting of more than 2 websites (e.g., Website1.com, Website2.com,...) on a single server. This means that the websites share hardware resources such as CPU or memory capacity. These resources are allocated and utilized by the server in a rational manner to achieve the highest efficiency.
In today's Industry 4.0 era, alongside the development of Cloud Computing technologies, virtual solutions serving various purposes have emerged and developed more than ever before. Some specific examples include: Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting solutions, virtual application hosting solutions,...
How a Virtual Host Works
There are several methods for a Virtual Host to operate, and typically, a Virtual Host operates based on the 3 ways below:
- IP-based
- Port-based
- Name-based
IP-based
This is one of the simplest methods among the three mentioned above. The server uses different IP addresses for each domain, and from there provides resources and assigns tasks to each separate domain based on the IP address.
Multiple IPs can point to a single domain of the server, and there will be only one IP for the server. This virtual hosting method can be implemented by creating multiple IP addresses for a single server.
Port-based
Port-based Virtual Hosts operate similarly to IP-based ones, with only one small difference: instead of using different IP addresses for each virtual server, here, Virtual Hosts use different ports and the servers are configured to assign tasks for each website based on that port.
Name-based
Name-based Virtual Hosts are considered the most popular and commonly used virtual hosting technique today. In this case, Virtual Hosts use a single IP address for all domain names on the server.
At this point, when a browser wants to connect to the server, it sends a notification to the server regarding the domain name it wants to access. After the server receives the information, it checks the stored configuration and thereby fulfills the browser's request with the correct website.
How to Create Virtual Hosts on XAMPP
XAMPP acts as a development environment used to create Virtual Hosts to serve users. Let's check out the guide on how to create Virtual Hosts on XAMPP through the instructions below.
First, download XAMPP from the homepage https://www.apachefriends.org. After installation is complete, open <xampp_installation_directory>/apache/conf/httpd.conf and find the line Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf. If you see a # symbol at the beginning of the line, remember to delete it; this is the line that loads configuration from another file into httpd.conf.
Next, open <xampp_installation_directory>/apache/conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf and copy the code snippet below, then paste it into the httpdvhosts.conf file.
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot ""
ServerName yourdomain.com
ErrorLog "logs/yourdomain.com-error.log"
CustomLog "logs/yourdomain.com-access.log" common
<Directory "">
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
DirectoryIndex index.php
Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
The next step is to restart Apache by restarting the XAMPP software. If Apache is running, stop and restart it, and if Apache is turned off, simply start it again. After completing the above steps, you can now install Virtual Hosts on XAMPP.
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