Configure Apache to serve multiple subdomains via HTTP + HTTPS

Question

I have a virtual server hosted at ISP with 2 public IPv4 addresses. I want to run several subdomains (more than 2) with Apache and serve them via both HTTP and HTTPS. The SSL cert is a wildcard one for *.mydomain.com.

I tried to configure Apache in Debian this way but failed. Either my virtualhosts are not accepted or I get SSL errors. (I know that Apache doesn't see hostname requested before serving the cert but the cert includes all subdomains possible)

Please help to create an httpd.conf that works best with Debian's Apache config layout.

All the details:

• Apache listening on *:80 for HTTP and *:443 for HTTPS
• All NameVirtualHosts, aliases etc. shall be defined for both ports/protocols at once
• default mydomain.com and www.mydomain.com should root to /var/www
• additional NameVirtualHosts for foo.mydomain.com and bar.mydomain.com etc. which can be configured specially, e.g. to have another DocumentRoot

Solution

Apache can see the hostname requested, using TLS Server Name Indication.

However, this requires a relatively recent web browser. For example, those using Internet Explorer on Windows XP will receive certificate mismatch messages for additional domains. (Thankfully, WinXP/IE users are almost extinct.) The Wikipedia article has a list, and here's a test page if you're unsure.

NameVirtualHost *:80

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www
    <Directory /var/www/>
        Options Indexes FollowSymlinks MultiViews
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

NameVirtualHost *:443

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www
    <Directory /var/www/>
        Options Indexes FollowSymlinks MultiViews
    </Directory>

    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/private/example.com.pem
</VirtualHost>

Additional (sub)domains:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName foo.example.com
    DocumentRoot /sites/foo
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName foo.example.com
    DocumentRoot /sites/foo

    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/private/foo.example.com.pem
</VirtualHost>

Comments

[Apache User]

Thank you very much for your educated reply! It's just that I would prefer not relying on this recent feature... I have a .mydomain.tld wildcard cert and want to define SSL for *all subdomains at once. What I was looking for is a way to define the namevirtualhosts once and let them be served via HTTP and HTTPs without doubled entries.