Re: VirtualHost and ServerAlias

Vincent Veyron wrote:
> Hi Group,
> 
> I host a web service for my customers (ex : insurance_company.com) on a
> virtual host (*); my customers in turn want their customers (the
> policyholders) to have access to the data, while using their internet
> name instead of mine. 
> 
> This works fine with the ServerAlias directive inside the VirtualHost
> directive :
> 
>  ServerAlias extranet.insurance_company.com as-pro.biz
> 
> and the appropriate DNS settings.
> 
> That way, the policy holder can type
> 'http://extranet.insurance_company.com/clients/login' and have access to
> the data, transparently hitting my server at as-pro.biz.

Not really. I think you need to read up more on how VirtualHosts work.

> 
> My problem is the following : I have a handfulf of potential clients (3
> now, 6 at most), who all want the login form to the service customized
> with their logo. I cannot however know which logo to select before the
> user fills in the form.

Well, you can, because each customer (or customer of customer) presumably uses a different 
hostname to reach the server.

> 
> The names API :
> 
> http://perl.apache.org/docs/2.0/api/Apache2/ServerRec.html#C_names_
> 
> was apparently a solution for me, but it is not implemented in 2.0, and
> I am not able to code it.
> 
> Is there another way for me to pass to my PerlResponseHandler which
> ServerAlias was used? 
> 
> 
> (* : the service processes insurance claims for sick leaves; if you care
> to see what it looks like : 
> 
> http://as-pro.biz/clients/login?nom_utilisateur=152&mot_de_passe=152
> 
> )
> 

It sounds like something which you could easily do in Apache itself, using the mod_rewrite 
module.  Make as many copies of your login page as you have customers, as 
login_customer1.html, login_customer2.html etc.. (with the correct logo in each).
Then set up your VirtualHost as follows:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^customer1.biz
RewriteRule "/login\.html$" "/login_customer1.html" [L]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^customer2.biz
RewriteRule "/login\.html$" "/login_customer2.html" [L]
etc..

At least that's the general idea.
Check this for details and more info.
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_rewrite.html

(of course you could also set up one VirtualHost per customer..)

To get the hostname which the client used to reach the server, use this :

$r->hostname
from
http://perl.apache.org/docs/2.0/api/Apache2/RequestRec.html#C_hostname_

This gives you the hostname that was mentioned in this request, not the one that is in the 
ServerName directive of the configuration section.
There is a difference.