Creating Multiple Local Websites

  • vicentemmos

    (@vicentemmos)


    4 years, 11 months ago

    Hello all!

    I’m new to WordPress, I’m working with Elementor and using some templates to develop a couple webpages I’m going to show some people. I would like to know what would be the best approach to my work, I currently have one local WordPress instance 127.0.0.1, and I want to start working on a different website, on the same computer. Would it be better to install a second WordPress instance? If so, would you please link me to a page where I can see the second instance installation process? I didn’t manage to change the localhost ip. If not, then how would I manage two completely different websites inside the same WordPress instance?

    Thank you.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • RossMitchell

    (@rossmitchell)

    4 years, 11 months ago

    I do this by configuring my webserver using VirtUalHost technique, details here:
    https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/vhosts/
    Then I put the domain names into my hosts file, details here:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file)

    RossMitchell

    (@rossmitchell)

    4 years, 11 months ago

    An after thought:
    Leave your first website as localhost = 127.0.0.1
    just use the virtual host method to setup the extra ones.
    I often use exactly the same domain name as will be use when the site is launched, just commenting out the lines in the hosts file with a hash = “#” switches the browser from accessing the localhost or using the webs domain name system.

    Thread Starter vicentemmos

    (@vicentemmos)

    4 years, 11 months ago

    Hello @rossmitchell, thank you for your answer. I’ve read the links you sent in your reply, I have a few more questions. I have zero knowledge in Apache, really. I’ve modified the httpd.conf file and added the following:

    [...]
#Listen 12.34.56.78:80
Listen 80
Listen 81 #New port
[...]

[...]
#### Localhost VirtualHost ####

<VirtualHost 127.0.0.1:80>
<Directory "C:/Program Files/Ampps/www">
	Options FollowSymLinks Indexes
	AllowOverride All
	Order deny,allow
	allow from All
</Directory>
ServerName localhost
ServerAlias localhost 127.0.0.1
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "C:/Program Files/Ampps/www/cgi-bin/"
DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Ampps/www"
ErrorLog "C:/Program Files/Ampps/apache/logs/error.log"
CustomLog "C:/Program Files/Ampps/apache/logs/access.log" combined
</VirtualHost>

	#My new VirtualHost
	<VirtualHost 127.0.0.2:81>
	<Directory "C:/Program Files/Ampps/www">
		Options FollowSymLinks Indexes
		AllowOverride All
		Order deny,allow
		allow from All
	</Directory>
	ServerName mynewhostname
	ServerAlias mynewhostname 127.0.0.2
	DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Ampps/www"
	ErrorLog "C:/Program Files/Ampps/apache/logs/error.log"
	CustomLog "C:/Program Files/Ampps/apache/logs/access.log" combined
	</VirtualHost>
[...]

    After I did this, http://127.0.0.1 is now unaccessbile, and I still don’t know how to install WordPress into http://127.0.0.2. I know I’m probably missing quite a lot of information here. Have I just ruined all I’ve done so far in http://127.0.0.1? How do I recover it, and how do I create a new instance?

    Thank you.

    Edit:

    Actually, now http://127.0.0.1 is running normally, and http://127.0.0.2 is redirecting me back to http://127.0.0.1. Maybe I did add a new Virtual Host correctly, after all. Any thoughts?

    • This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by vicentemmos.
    • This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by vicentemmos.
    • This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by vicentemmos.
    RossMitchell

    (@rossmitchell)

    4 years, 11 months ago

    Firstly restore your original httpd.conf file. There are no changes necessary for your original website.

    You need to load a new set of WordPress files for the new website, it is best tyo keep them out of the “Program Files” space, the var directory will do. Make a sub directory for site2, also create a logs directory.

    Add a new virtualhost block to your restored httpd.conf file like this:
    (Note that it is on port 80 of 127.0.0.1)

    #A new VirtualHost
<VirtualHost *:80>
	<Directory "C:/var/site2">
		Options FollowSymLinks Indexes
		AllowOverride All
		Order deny,allow
		allow from All
	</Directory>
	ServerName mynewhostname
	ServerAlias www.mynewhostname
	DocumentRoot "C:/var/site2"
	ErrorLog "C:/var/site2/logs/error.log"
	CustomLog "C:/var/site2/logs/access.log" combined
</VirtualHost>

    Now add these two lines to your hosts file:

    www.mynewhostname 127.0.0.1
mynewhostname 127.0.0.1

    Then if you want to access your site2 from elsewhere on your LAN you do this:
    – find the IP address that your server PC uses, something like 192.168.0.27
    whatever it is say it is a.b.c.d
    – On every computer that want to access your site2 that is on the LAN, add these lines to its hosts file:

    mynewhostname a.b.c.d
www.mynewhostname a.b.c.d

    Of course this requires that the IP address of the server never changes, there are ways to do this.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

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