Is a local multisite installation equivalent to multiple VirtualHosts?

Simplifying the original question, so this answer is to my original, more specific question about Apache setup.

Do Apache variable DOCUMENT_ROOT and PHP variable doc_root need to match exactly?

In my local development setup under MAMP for Windows, in file httpd.conf I set DocumentRoot as

DocumentRoot "C:/MAMP/htdocs"

whereas in httpd-vhosts.conf I set

DocumentRoot "C:/MAMP/htdocs/my-dev-install"

This seems to work ok with one site, but how do I get multiple sites working on localhost without having to switch on and off each Virtual Host to pivot between sites?

I’ll update this answer as I find pieces.

First, DocumentRoot definitions in httpd-vhosts.conf will override the default defined in httpd.conf,

which responds to any requests that aren’t handled by a definition. These values also provide defaults for any containers you may define later in the file.

–(comment from httpd.conf)

My hosts file:

127.0.0.1     example.d1
::1             example.d1
127.0.0.1     example.d2
::1             example.d2

My httpd-vhosts.conf:

NameVirtualHost *:80

# ======= New  - theme 1 =======
 <VirtualHost *:80> 
    DocumentRoot "C:/MAMP/htdocs/my-dev-install-1"
    ServerName example.d1
    ServerAlias example.d1
    # these 4 lines enable error logs       ====modify the log names to make it clear which dev site the errors belong to
    RewriteLogLevel 3
    RewriteLog "C:/MAMP/logs/rewrite.log"
    ErrorLog "C:/MAMP/logs/d1-error_log" 
    CustomLog "C:/MAMP/logs/d1-access_log" common 
 </VirtualHost>
 
# ======= New  - theme 2 =======
 <VirtualHost *:80> 
    DocumentRoot "C:/MAMP/htdocs/another-dev-install-2"
    ServerName example.d2
    ServerAlias example.d2
    # these 4 lines enable error logs
    RewriteLogLevel 3
    RewriteLog "C:/MAMP/logs/rewrite.log"
    ErrorLog "C:/MAMP/logs/d2-error_log" 
    CustomLog "C:/MAMP/logs/d2-access_log" common 
 </VirtualHost>

The .htaccess files have only standard WordPress language (no difference between the two).

Partial success — when I visit http://example.d1 or http://example.d2 , Apache sends me to the correct sites’ home pages. However, clicking on links within .d2 take me back to localhost, which somehow is defined as the first site (example.d1).

Could be a 302 in my browser perhaps. Or, maybe I need to play with the NameVirtualHost * statement.

Related Posts: