Are there cmd prompts to quickly change httpd.conf DocumentRoot directories - php

Question

I have multiple websites in folders that I need to switch back and forth too constantly. Each time I have to go to the httpd.conf file to find them and change DocumentRoot and Directory lines. I was wondering if there is a faster way to do this, maybe with a cmd prompt? Or maybe a php inc file I can create.
Thanks.

Answer 1

You would be much better off setting all your sites up as Virtual Hosts. They are always available and you dont have to change anything other than the url to access each individually.
HowTo: Create Virtual Hosts in WAMP
BEFORE DOING ANY OF THIS PLEASE ENSURE APACHE AND MYSQL ARE WORKING PROPERLY FIRST!!!
Create a new folder outside the wamp directory structure. For example
C:\websites\www
but this can be on any disk drive visible to the PC running wamp
Create a subfolder in c:\websites for each site you want to create. for example:
C:\websites\www\site1
C:\websites\www\site2
Edit the file C:\wamp\bin\apache\apachex.y.z\conf\extra\httpd-vhosts.conf where x,y and z are the version numbers of apache that you actually have installed.
NOTE: If you are switching between 2 or more versions of apache this will have to be done to all your versions of apache in turn.
SUGGESTION: I like to use the format sitename.dev to make it obvious to me that I am dealing with my localhost development copy of a site, you may prefer another notation, thats ok, the word dev has no actual defined meaning in this case, its just my way of naming my development versions of a live site.
NOTE: Remove or better still comment out ( using the # in column 1 ) the lines that already exists in this file. They are just examples.
example contents:
#
# Use name-based virtual hosting.
#
NameVirtualHost *:80
## must be first so the the wamp menu page loads when you use just localhost as the domain name
## Also NEVER change the security to anything other than Allow from 127.0.0.1 localhost ::1
## Then a drive by Ip address hack should return a 403 denied access
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot "C:/wamp/www"
ServerName localhost
ServerAlias localhost
**Using Apache 2.2 syntax**
<Directory "C:/wamp/www">
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
Allow from 127.0.0.1 localhost ::1
## For every ip in the subnet, just use the first 3 numbers of the subnet
## Check you actual subnet for the actual values to use here
Allow from 192.168.0
</Directory>
**Using Apache 2.4 syntax**
<Directory "C:/wamp/www">
Require local
## And possibly allow access from you local network
## Check you subnet for the actual values to use here
Require ip 192.168.0
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot "C:/websites/www/site1"
ServerName site1.dev
ServerAlias www.site1.dev
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
**Using Apache 2.2 syntax**
<Directory "C:/websites/www/site1">
AllowOverride All
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
Allow from 127.0.0.1 localhost ::1
#If you want to allow access from your internal network
# For specific ip addresses add one line per ip address
#Allow from 192.168.0.nnn
# For every ip in the subnet, just use the first 3 numbers of the subnet
#Allow from 192.168.0
# If you want to allow access to everyone
#Allow from all
</Directory>
**Using Apache 2.4 syntax**
<Directory "C:/websites/www/site1">
AllowOverride All
Require local
#If you want to allow access from your internal network
# For specific ip addresses add one line per ip address
#Require ip 192.168.0.nnn
# For every ip in the subnet, just use the first 3 numbers of the subnet
#Require ip 192.168.0
# If you want to allow access to everyone
#Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
Add as many as you require so each of your sites have one, changing the DocumentRoot, ServerName and any other of the parameters as appropriate.
This also allows you to make SITE SPECIFIC changes to the configuration.
NOTE: This will make the wamp manager "Put Online" function no longer have any effect on these new vhost'ed sites as the security for each one is now part of the vhost definition, so leave WAMP, OFFLINE.
If you want to put one or more sites online you will have to change the Allow commands MANUALLY in the httpd-vhosts.conf file.
To check your subnet do the following:
Launch a command window, and run
>ipconfig
Look for the line "Default Gateway" in the output and use the third number in your Allow commands.
Edit your httpd.conf file and search for these lines, they are near the bottom of the file.
# Virtual hosts
#Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
Remove the '#' comment character on this line to Include your newly changed vhosts, this will cause apache to register their existance. eg
# Virtual hosts
Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
While still editing your httpd.conf file search for
# onlineoffline tag - don't remove
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
Allow from 127.0.0.1
</Directory>
DO NOT CHANGE THESE LINES!
Add the following after the <\Directory> tag to secure your new C:\websites folder.
<Directory "C:/websites/">
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
Allow from 127.0.0.1
</Directory>
This is to set security on your new directory structure so that access to these new sites is only allowed from 127.0.0.1 (localhost) unless amended from within a specific VHOST.
P.S. Your internal network will probably be something like 192.168.x.y, check your system first!
Now in order for your browser to know how to get to these new domain names i.e. site1.dev and site2.dev, we need to tell windows what IP address they are located on. There is a file called HOSTS that is a hangover from the days before Domain Name Servers (DNS) were invented. It is a way of giving nice easy rememberable names to IP address's, which of course is what DNS Servers do for us all now.
Edit your HOSTS file, this can be found in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc , the file does not have an extension.
Windows protects this file so you must be an Administrator to be allowed to save changes to this file.
If you are using VISTA or Windows7/8 you may think you are an Administrator BUT YOU ARE NOT!!!!
So to edit this file you must launch your editor, or Notepad in a specific way to gain Administrator rights. To do this find your editors icon and launch it using the following key strokes:
Shift + Right Click over its icon, this will display a menu, click the item "Run as Administrator", and click "Allow" on the challenge dialog that will appear.
Now you are ready to edit the hosts file so navigate your editor to c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Add the following lines to this file
127.0.0.1 site1.dev
127.0.0.1 site2.dev
NOTE: You will need to add one line in this file for each of your new virtual hosts.
Once you have saved these changes you need to make windows refresh its 'domain name - ipaddress cross reference' cache.
To do this launch a command window as an Administrator ( Shift + Left Click over the command window icon ) and run these 2 commands.
>net stop "DNS Client"
>net start "DNS Client"
Note: The quotes are required as there is a space in the services name.
In order for Apache to pick up these changes you must bounce ( restart ) apache.
DO this by: Wamp manager -> Apache -> Service -> Restart Service
You should now be able to use the address site1.dev in your browser to get to your new sites.
Copy your sites code into the "C:/websites/xxxx" folder if you already have a site coded or,
place a quick and simple index.php file into the "c:\websites\xxxx" folder to proove it all works.
example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en-US">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>SITE1</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
echo '<div style="background-color:red;color;white;text-align:center;font-size:18px">HELLO FROM Site1</div>';
?>
</body>
</html>
TROUBLE SHOOTING:
If you have used the new domain name ( site1.dev ) and it has not found the site.
a. Check the changes to the hosts file.
b. Restart the "DNS Service" that runs in windows. This caches all doman names that you use in a browser so that the browser does not have to query a DNS Server each time you re-use a domain name. This may have cached your failed attempt but a restart is easy and should solve the problem and is quicker that re-booting windows, which should also work.