Setting Up an Apache Virtual Host for Your WordPress Subdomain: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you're using Apache as your web server and hosting a WordPress site, setting up a subdomain with the right configurations can streamline the process. In this article, I'll walk you through setting up an Apache Virtual Host for a WordPress site on a domain, using yourwebsite.com as an example.

Step 1: Enable Apache Modules

The first step in our setup is to ensure that Apache’s rewrite module is enabled. This module is essential for WordPress to function correctly, especially when it comes to permalinks and URL rewriting.

To enable the rewrite module and restart Apache, run the following commands:

sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo systemctl restart apache2        

Step 2: Create the Virtual Host Configuration

Now that the necessary module is enabled, we need to create a configuration file for the subdomain betterlife.deienami.com.

First, navigate to the Apache sites-available directory and create a new configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/yourwebsite.com.conf        

Next, add the following configuration details to the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    ServerName yourwebsite.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/yourwebsite
    DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.htm
    <Directory /var/www/html/yourwebsite>
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/yourwebsite_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/yourwebsite_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>        

Key points:

• ServerAdmin: Your admin email (replace with your actual address).
• ServerName: This is the subdomain you’re setting up.
• DocumentRoot: Points to the directory where WordPress is installed, in this case /var/www/html/betterlife.
• AllowOverride All: Crucial for enabling .htaccess files, which WordPress uses to manage permalinks.

Step 3: Enable the Subdomain

Once the configuration file is ready, the next step is to enable the site using the following command:

sudo a2ensite yourwebsite.com.conf 
sudo systemctl reload apache2        

This will activate the subdomain and reload Apache to apply the changes.

Step 4: Set Correct File Permissions

For WordPress to function properly, we need to ensure that Apache has the correct permissions to access the files in the WordPress directory.

To set the right ownership and permissions, run:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/yourwebsite
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/yourwebsite        

This will give Apache the necessary access while maintaining security best practices.

Step 6: Final Checks and Restart

Once everything is set up, it’s a good idea to restart Apache to ensure that all configurations are applied properly:

sudo systemctl restart apache2        

At this point, your domain yourwebsite.com should be up and running, with Apache serving your WordPress site securely.

Note: You will have to point your domain to the above server ip to make it work.