Lloyd Leung

The original problem:

Since I jump from project to project a lot, I have lots of project folders.

Summary of the solution:

use dnsmasq, and a mass vhost setup.

Problem in detail:

Normally, you’d have to:

• create a subdirector for your project
  • all the standard setup stuff for your project.
• Setup an apache VHOST
• Edit your hosts file

What I wanted to accomplish was avoiding fiddling with the vhost and hosts file, each and every time I setup a new project.

I wanted to map all http://<wildcard>.localhost.com to /www/hosts/wildcard.localhost.com/www

The solution I found that works for me:

• Dnsmasq, which will auto resolve *.localhost.com to 127.0.0.1
  • Install
    • OSX: $> sudo port install dnsmasq
    • Debian/Ubuntu: $> sudo apt-get install dnsmasq
  • Dnsmasq Setup
    • Editing the /etc/dnsmasq.conf file (with the appropriate permissions)
      • $> sudo nano /etc/dnsmasq.conf
      • Add the following lines

address=/localhost.com/127.0.0.1

address=/.localhost.com/127.0.0.1

listen-address=127.0.0.1

• Setup your OS
  • Make sure your OS is pointing to 127.0.0.1 as a DNS server.
• Restart dnsmasq, so that the dnsmasq changes take effect
• Apache, setup a dynamic mass vhost setup file.

# get the server name from the Host: header

UseCanonicalName Off

# splittable logs

LogFormat “%{Host}i %h %l %u %t \”%r\” %s %b” vcommon

CustomLog logs/access_log vcommon

<Directory /www/hosts>

# ExecCGI is needed here because we can’t force

# CGI execution in the way that ScriptAlias does

Options FollowSymLinks ExecCGI

AllowOverride All

Order allow,deny

Allow from all

</Directory>

RewriteEngine On

# a ServerName derived from a Host: header may be any case at all

RewriteMap  lowercase  int:tolower

## deal with normal documents first:

# allow Alias /icons/ to work – repeat for other aliases

RewriteCond  %{REQUEST_URI}  !^/icons/

# allow CGIs to work

RewriteCond  %{REQUEST_URI}  !^/cgi-bin/

# do the magic

RewriteRule  ^/(.*)$  /www/hosts/${lowercase:%{SERVER_NAME}}/www/$1

## and now deal with CGIs – we have to force a handler

RewriteCond  %{REQUEST_URI}  ^/cgi-bin/

RewriteRule  ^/(.*)$  /www/hosts/${lowercase:%{SERVER_NAME}}/cgi-bin/$1  [H=cgi-script]

Make a directory

$> mkdir -p /www/hosts

$> cd /www/hosts

Now for each domain you’re going to have repeat below:

Lets call say you want to start a project called sandbox.

$> mkdir –p sandbox.localhost.com/www

sandbox is the subdomain we are using.

Restart apache, so that the conf file will puck up the new domain.

In your browser, navigat to http://sandbox.localhost.com

You should see an empty folder…  the setup portion is not done.  You are now able to start developing your site in your new document root, /www/hosts/sandbox.localhost.com that maps to sandbox.localhost.com

NOTES:

mobile devices won’t be able to connect to this site… so you’ll either have to setup your router to use dnsmasq (dd-wrt), or another method.

Addition notes:

setup instructions for dnsmasq is available here:

http://inspirix.wikispaces.com/dnsmasq-on-OSX

http://www.justincarmony.com/blog/2011/07/27/mac-os-x-lion-etc-hosts-bugs-and-dns-resolution/

ignore the stuff below this... as it's more for my own sake... but it's here to share.

sudo port install dnsmasq
sudo cp�/opt/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf /etc/dnsmasq.conf
sudo mkdir -p /System/Library/StartupItems/DNSMASQ
3.) sudo mkdir -p /System/Library/StartupItems/DNSMASQ

4.) sudo nano /System/Library/StartupItems/DNSMASQ/DNSMASQ

#!/bin/sh

. /etc/rc.common

if [ "${DNSMASQ}" = "-YES-" ]; then
  ConsoleMessage "Starting DNSMASQ" 
  /opt/local/sbin/dnsmasq
fi

5.) sudo nano /System/Library/StartupItems/DNSMASQ/Startup\ Parameters.plist

{
  Description = "Local DNSMASQ Server";
  Provides = ("DNS Masq");
  OrderPreference = "None";
  Messages = 
  {
  start = "Starting DNSMASQ";
  stop = "Stopping DNSMASQ";
  };
}

6.) Add line to /etc/hostconfig

DNSMASQ=-YES-

7.) sudo chmod +x /System/Library/StartupItems/DNSMASQ/DNSMASQ

8.) sudo /System/Library/StartupItems/DNSMASQ/DNSMASQ

9.) In network settings make sure 127.0.0.1 is in your dns server list.  If you do:

  dig google.com

  You should see something like this near the bottom (if not, your network settings need to 
  be applied.. try this to flush dns cache: dscacheutil -flushcache ):
    ;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)

  # test it.
  ping somewhere.localhost.com
  : PING somewhere.dev (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
  : 64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.031 ms

add the line to /etc/dnsmasq.conf
$> sudo nano -w /etc/dnsmasq.conf ## or your favourite editor, as root.

address=/localhost.com/127.0.0.1

Clear your dns cache.

dscacheutil -flushcache

Troubleshooting:
You may need to setup your network connection to point your DNS to localhost first.

sudo kill -HUP `cat /opt/local/var/run/dnsmasq.pid`

my vhosts Magic

Alias /phpmyadmin /opt/local/www/phpmyadmin

<directory "/www">
	Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks
	AllowOverride AuthConfig FileInfo
	Order allow,deny
	Allow from all

<directory "/opt/local/www/phpmyadmin">
	Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks
	AllowOverride AuthConfig FileInfo
	Order allow,deny
	Allow from all

UseCanonicalName Off

LogFormat "%V %h %l %u %t \"%r\" %s %b" vcommon
CustomLog logs/access_log vcommon

# include part of the server name in the filenames
VirtualDocumentRoot /www/hosts/%1/www