Wordpress MU subdomain vhost

Question

Ok so i have my mu setup with subdomains and need a subdomian to point to a different path. My issue is when i add the vhost file it loads before wordpress and loads it path for everything that does not have an assigned path in my vhosts config. But if i load after wordpress domain install then it trys to create a site for the subdomain entered.

What i need is this:
sub2.mydomain.com - points to /path/to/sub/directory
*.mydomain.com - points to /path/to/wordpress/install

UPDATE:
I am using a domain mapping plugin which i think is causing my issue. All sub sites load fine but when i load a mapped domain to a sub site it does not work.

I can not add my mapped domain each time to my vhost config since i plan on allowing others to map domains

Answer 1

Basically, it turns out you need two dedicated IP addresses, or a third vhost.

IP Address

You could use two IP addresses and do something like this in your apache configuration:

#IP address for WP
NameVirtualHost 12.34.56.78:80
#For everything else
NameVirtualHost *:80

Then, make sure the VirtualHost for WordPress is declared thus:

<VirtualHost 12.34.56.78:80>

and all other VirtualHost blocks declared before WordPress use the other one:

<VirtualHost *:80>

That should work. I haven't tested this AT ALL, so it may not work. Also, I'm not sure using the asterisk in the second NameVirtualHost line will work; again: untested.

CNAME

Assuming your domain mapping plugin allows for this, use the 'cname' method of routing mapped domains instead of the 'IP' method. Use something like 'map.domain.com' and have mapped domains point a cname to that (this will prevent them from using the root of their domain, but they should be able to 301 redirect example.com to www.example.com)

Add another VirtualHost entry for 'map.domain.com' as the first vhost entry, mirroring the main vhost entry for the domain, specifically: the document root.

Again, this is also untested.

SUBDOMAIN CONFIGURATION (OLD ANSWER)

I'll use my own site's virtual host file as an example. This is all in one file:

# Virtual host for the subdomain first
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    ServerName drupal.johnpbloch.com
    # Note that the document root and all other paths are different from the domain's primary virtual host below.
    DocumentRoot /path/to/subdomain/directory/htdocs/
    ErrorLog /path/to/subdomain/directory/logs/error.log
    CustomLog /path/to/subdomain/directory/logs/access.log combined
    <Directory /path/to/subdomain/directory/htdocs/>
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>
# Virtual host for the main site next
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    ServerName johnpbloch.com
    ServerAlias www.johnpbloch.com
    ServerAlias *.johnpbloch.com
    DocumentRoot /path/to/main/site/directory/htdocs/
    ErrorLog /path/to/main/site/directory/logs/error.log
    CustomLog /path/to/main/site/directory/logs/access.log combined
    <Directory /path/to/main/site/directory/htdocs/>
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

That doesn't have to all be in one file; the important part is that Apache loads the more specific virtual host first. That means any virtual hosts with no wildcards in any ServerAlias values must be loaded before any virtual hosts with those wildcard values.

There is no value, no setting, nothing you could possible do with, in or around WordPress that could possibly solve your problem. By the time the request has reached WordPress, it's too late. Apache has already loaded the virtual hosts, already resolved the hosts, and will always route the traffic the way it does. If the traffic is getting to WordPress when it shouldn't be that is a server configuration issue. Not WordPress.

Answer 2

I ran into this on my server as well, and I can guarantee you that John's answer is correct. To prove it, here is the vhost section from my own Apache configuration file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName prosepainting.com
    ServerAlias www.prosepainting.com *.prosepainting.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/eamann
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName mindsharestrategy.com
    ServerAlias www.mindsharestrategy.com *.mindsharestrategy.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/eamann
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName groundedchristianity.com
    ServerAlias www.groundedchristianity.com *.groundedchristianity.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/eamann
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName prose.eamann.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/eamann
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName business.eamann.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/eamann
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName git.eamann.com
    DocumentRoot /home/git/repositories
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName eamann.com
    ServerAlias www.eamann.com *.eamann.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/eamann
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html
</VirtualHost>

I have it set up this way because I will selectively turn each mapped domain on and off for testing. But all of the sites in my WordPress installation are subdomains of eamann.com and get mapped to the right location by the *.eamann.com declaration. To set up the mapped domains, I needed to add them as well.

To make things simpler, this configuration would do the exact same thing:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName git.eamann.com
    DocumentRoot /home/git/repositories
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName eamann.com
    ServerAlias www.prosepainting.com *.prosepainting.com www.mindsharestrategy.com *.mindsharestrategy.com www.groundedchristianity.com *.groundedchristianity.com www.eamann.com *.eamann.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/eamann
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html
</VirtualHost>

My git.eamann.com domain is directed to one location (my Git repository folder) but WordPress will still see all other subdomains and my mapped domains will point to WordPress as well.

Answer 3

Since my domain mapping plugin does not do cname (wpmudev domain mapping) i could not use the cname suggestion. As for the ip address this is untested as i do not want to add more to my hosting bill at this time maybe in the feature ill give it a shot. ordering the vhosts and assigning alias works but like i said in a previous comment i plan on allowing other users to map a domain name and that means i would have to add it manually every time one was registered.

My solution is this:
I created a wp site with a sub-domain of my choice and then created a sym link in the wp root folder (i know that i can access from any site but not many people will not that) so when i type in subdomain1.mydomain.com/analytics it will load the analytics same goes for my issue tracking script. By creating the site i can create a page that shows a list of services that can be accessed.

Thanks John P Bloch for your help i know this was not a WordPress issue completely but since it was my domain mapping plugin that to me made it enough as well thank you EAMann this would work but like i said above i would need to create a s-alias every-time.