Apache Virtual host shows blank page over Internet, works fine locally - php

Question

Please do not answer until you read the full question :)
In a freshly created DigitalOcean CentOS 6.5 (64 bit) server, I tried creating two Apache virtual hosts - www.example-rose.com and www.example-tulip.com by issuing following commands:
Server Side Setup
# software installation
yum install httpd mod_fcgid php-cli
# added cgi.fix_pathinfo=1 in /etc/php.ini
echo "cgi.fix_pathinfo=1" >> /etc/php.ini
echo "PHP_Fix_Pathinfo_Enable 1" >> /etc/httpd/conf.d/fcgid.conf
# added new users and groups for the two virtual sites
groupadd rose
groupadd tulip
useradd -s /bin/false -d /var/www/rose -m -g rose rose
useradd -s /bin/false -d /var/www/tulip -m -g tulip tulip
chmod 755 /var/www/rose
chmod 755 /var/www/tulip
# create new document root and make them own by respective users
mkdir -p /var/www/rose/web
chown rose:rose /var/www/rose/web
mkdir -p /var/www/tulip/web
chown tulip:tulip /var/www/tulip/web
Now since I want to run PHP through SuEXEC, I have done following additional steps of creating a wrapper script for SuEXEC
mkdir -p /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/rose
mkdir -p /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/tulip
# inside the wrapper, I added a file (/var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/rose/php-fcgi-starter)
# with below content:
#!/bin/sh
PHPRC=/etc/
export PHPRC
export PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=5000
export PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=8
exec /usr/bin/php-cgi
# changed the permission
chmod 755 /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/rose/php-fcgi-starter
chown -R rose:rose /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/rose
# above steps are repeated for tulip as well
Then finally I added the following content in my httpd.conf file to enable the virtual hosting
NameVirtualHost *:80
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName www.example-rose.com
ServerAlias example-rose.com
ServerAdmin webmaster#example-rose.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/rose/web/
<IfModule mod_fcgid.c>
SuexecUserGroup rose rose
<Directory /var/www/rose/web/>
Options +ExecCGI
AllowOverride All
AddHandler fcgid-script .php
FCGIWrapper /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/rose/php-fcgi-starter .php
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
</IfModule>
ErrorLog /var/www/rose/error.log
CustomLog /var/www/rose/access.log combined
ServerSignature Off
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
... similar lines for the second virtual host (Tulip). Cutting short ...
</VirtualHost>
I restarted the server and put one index.php file in the web directory with following content : <?php phpinfo(); ?>.
Local Machine
In order to test the virtual hosts, I issued following commands from my local machine using curl
$> curl -v -H "www.example-rose.com" 162.*.35.155/index.php
* Trying 162.*.35.155...
* Connected to 162.*.35.155 port 80 (#0)
> GET /index.php HTTP/1.1
> User-Agent: curl/7.30.0
> Host: www.example-rose.com
> Accept: */*
>
* Empty reply from server
* Connection #0 to host 162.*.35.155 left intact
curl: (52) Empty reply from server
If I try accessing through web browser instead of curl (after creating /etc/hosts entry for the domains), I get blank page. No Apache Access log or error log is generated in the server. If I put a static file (instead of php file), I can access the static file without any issue. But .php file does not work.
However
When I try to curl from the DigitalOcean's server itself (or from some other server within DigitalOcean's network), I get to see the expected index.php with phpinfo() results without any issue. But doesn't work when I try from outside DO's network.
I have done all sorts common troubleshooting (installing, re-installing, checking permissions, checking conf files again and again etc.) and I am at my wit's end now. Next what?
Please do not answer until you read the full question :)