NameVirtualHost *:443 has no VirtualHosts on debian squeeze

Question

I have an Apache 2.2 server that works but I am getting the NameVirtualHost *:443 has no VirtualHosts warnings when restarting. But I do have VirtualHosts that match *:443.

The system is Debian squeeze. The ports.conf file looks like this:

NameVirtualHost *:80
Listen 80

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
   NameVirtualHost *:443
   Listen 443
</IfModule>

Here is the output when running the -S option with apache2ctl:

% /usr/sbin/apache2ctl -S 
[Sat Mar 06 10:07:11 2013] [warn] NameVirtualHost *:443 has no VirtualHosts
VirtualHost configuration:
wildcard NameVirtualHosts and _default_ servers:
*:443                  is a NameVirtualHost
         default server q2a-dev.example.org (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/q2a:1)
         port 443 namevhost q2a-dev.example.org (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/q2a:1)
         port 443 namevhost tcert-dev.example.org (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/tcert-dev:1)
*:80                   is a NameVirtualHost
         default server emailtest-dev.example.org (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/emailtest:1)
         port 80 namevhost emailtest-dev.example.org (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/emailtest:1)
Syntax OK

The two virtual hosts are defined in files living in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled:

# /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/q2a
<VirtualHost *:443>
  DocumentRoot /usr/share/question2answer
  ServerName q2a-dev.example.org
  ServerAlias q2a-dev

  SSLEngine on
  SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/q2a-dev.pem
  SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/q2a-dev.key

  DirectoryIndex index.php
</VirtualHost>

and here is the another one:

# /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/tcert-dev
<VirtualHost *:443>
  DocumentRoot /srv/www/tools
  ServerName tcert-dev.example.org
  ServerAlias tcert-dev

  SSLEngine on
  SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/tcert-dev.pem
  SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/tcert-dev.key

  <Directory "/">
    AllowOverride None
  </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Answer 1

I found the problem. After Andrew B suggested posting more of the configuration on pastebin I looked through all the files more carefully and found that I had TWO places where the NameVirtualHost *:443 directive appeared: one in ports.conf and one in a file in the directory /etc/apache2/conf.d all files of which are loaded during Apache start-up.

I removed one of the instances and the warning went away.

(Note that this whole issue goes away in Apache 2.4 as NameVirtualHost is implicit for address/port combinations appearing in multiple virtual hosts.)

Answer 2

I use Debian Squeeze too, please see below how my ports.conf looks like.

The comment comes from the default file, note that you added NameVirtualHost *:443, I didn't.

NameVirtualHost *:80
Listen 80

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
    # If you add NameVirtualHost *:443 here, you will also have to change
    # the VirtualHost statement in /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl
    # to <VirtualHost *:443>
    # Server Name Indication for SSL named virtual hosts is currently not
    # supported by MSIE on Windows XP.
    Listen 443
</IfModule>

<IfModule mod_gnutls.c>
    Listen 443
</IfModule>

Note: in case you prefer to keep NameVirtualHost *:443 in ports.conf then you should add a link in order to have a default VirtualHost for 443 as follows:

ln -s /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default-ssl

Then I would update /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/q2a by adding <Directory>...</Directory> (it's where you put some options, I completed your code by adding some examples).

<VirtualHost *:443>
  DocumentRoot /usr/share/question2answer
  ServerName q2a-dev.example.org
  ServerAlias q2a-dev

  SSLEngine on
  SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/q2a-dev.pem
  SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/q2a-dev.key

  <Directory /usr/share/question2answer>
    DirectoryIndex index.php

    # here you can also add some other options like:
    Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    Order deny,allow
    Allow from all
    AllowOverride All
  </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Finally I would change /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/tcert-dev by updating the document root in <Directory>...</Directory>.

<VirtualHost *:443>
  DocumentRoot /srv/www/tools
  ServerName tcert-dev.example.org
  ServerAlias tcert-dev

  SSLEngine on
  SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/tcert-dev.pem
  SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/tcert-dev.key

  <Directory /srv/www/tools>
    AllowOverride None
  </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

I hope it helps.

Answer 3

That is a warning saying there are no virtualhosts setup for *:443

It would look something like

<virtualhost *:443>

</virtualhost>

If it doesn't match *:443 then it will throw that warning.