Apache Dynamic Virtual Host: RewriteMap: file for map vhost not found

Question

Following the instructions on Apache's site I have added the following to the end of my httpd.conf file:

RewriteEngine on

RewriteMap lowercase int:tolower

#define the map file
RewriteMap vhost txt:/web-data/vhost.map

# deal with aliases as above
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/icons/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/cgi-bin/
RewriteCond ${lowercase:%{SERVER_NAME}} ^(.+)$
# this does the file-based remap
RewriteCond ${vhost:%1} ^(/.*)$
RewriteRule ^/(.*)$ %1/httpdocs/$1

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/cgi-bin/
RewriteCond ${lowercase:%{SERVER_NAME}} ^(.+)$
RewriteCond ${vhost:%1} ^(/.*)$
RewriteRule ^/(.*)$ %1/cgi-bin/$1 [H=cgi-script]

When I run service httpd start I get the following error:

RewriteMap: file for map vhost not found:/web-data/vhost.map

I've triple checked that the file is present, with read permissions, and that the spelling is correct in the reference. What could I be missing?

Edit

Results of ls -lZ on /web-data/

drwxrwsr-x. root www  unconfined_u:object_r:file_t:s0  logs
drwx------. root root system_u:object_r:file_t:s0      lost+found
-rw-r--r--. root www  unconfined_u:object_r:file_t:s0  vhost.map
drwxrwsr-x. root www  unconfined_u:object_r:file_t:s0  vhosts

Answer 1

Compare the output of ls -lZ /var/www/html and ls -lZ /web-data. Also, examine your syslog, there should be a corresponding SELinux error with details.

In the interim, try the following:

1. Change the context of /web-data to match that of /var/www/html using the chcon command, something like:

   chcon --reference=/var/www/html /web-data

2. Discouraged: You can also temporarily disable SELinux and see if the error goes away