How to add CName (alias) to amazon ec2 web server?

Question

Following the instructions in How to change Public DNS in amazon ec2, I could change public DNS in amazon ec2 (ubuntu image).

What I need to do is to add CName (alias) so that wiki.XYZ.com points to /var/www/html/wiki.

I use godaddy for DNS Zone file, so I added the name wiki, and check ping wiki.XYZ.com works fine.

I also modified the /etc/apache2/apache2.conf, and restarted apache server with service apache2 restart.

<VirtualHost *>
DocumentRoot "/var/www/html/wiki"
ServerName wiki.XYZ.com
# Other directives here                                                         
<Directory "/var/www/html/wiki">
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    AllowOverride AuthConfig All
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

However, wiki.XYZ.com ends up in error (not page found) in my browser. What might be wrong?

Is there an index.html file in `/var/www/html/wiki`? Does the server behave differently if this new apache configuration is absent? (i.e., does it seem to be doing *anything* different)? — Michael - sqlbot, Nov 03 '15 at 11:54
There is an index.html in the directory, and I have the same results without the added configuration. — prosseek, Nov 03 '15 at 13:23
n.b. the http://example.com and http://example.org domains are set up for the purpose of masking real domain names with placeholders. The .com you appear to be using as a placeholder is a real domain, presumably owned by somebody else. — Michael - sqlbot, Nov 03 '15 at 13:53

Roger Creasy · Answer 1 · 2015-11-03T13:29:03.070

0

You should point the Cname to a domain name listed in your A record. Be sure to read @michael in the comments below.

edited Nov 03 '15 at 13:29

answered Nov 03 '15 at 11:16

Roger Creasy

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This isn't a DNS issue. Go Daddy's DNS admin tool allows `foo CNAME @` to mean `foo.example.com CNAME example.com`. (Also, note that CNAMEs can't "point to" IP addresses, only other names). This is a web server configuration issue. – Michael - sqlbot Nov 03 '15 at 11:49
1

@Michael-sqlbot you are correct about the Cname regarding IP addresses; I will edit my answer with your correction. – Roger Creasy Nov 03 '15 at 13:27

prosseek · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-03T14:14:38.183

The issue was with my browser (Safari) that searches wiki.XYZ.com instead of visiting the site. I had to specify http://wiki.XYZ.com. I don't have this issue with Chrome.

Also, the configuration should be modified as follows:

<VirtualHost *:80> <-- specify the port
DocumentRoot "/var/www/html/wiki"
ServerName wiki.XYZ.com
# Other directives here                                                         
<Directory "/var/www/html/wiki">
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    AllowOverride AuthConfig All
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

How to add CName (alias) to amazon ec2 web server?

2 Answers2