About Virtual Servers

A virtual server, sometimes called a virtual host, is an object that allows the same physical server to host multiple Internet domain names. All virtual servers hosted on the same physical server share the IP address of that physical server. A virtual server associates a domain name for a server (such as www.aaa.com) with the particular server on which Enterprise Server is running. Each virtual server must be registered with the DNS server for your network.

Do not confuse an Internet domain with the administrative domain of Enterprise Server.

For example, assume that you want to host the following domains on your physical server: www.aaa.com, www.bbb.com, and www.ccc.com. Assume that these domains are respectively associated with web modules web1, web2, and web3. This means that the following URLs are handled by your physical server:

http://www.aaa.com:8080/web1
http://www.bbb.com:8080/web2
http://www.ccc.com:8080/web3

The first URL is mapped to virtual server www.aaa.com, the second URL is mapped to virtual server www.bbb.com, and the third is mapped to virtual server www.ccc.com. For this mapping to work, www.aaa.com, www.bbb.com, and www.ccc.com must all resolve to your physical server’s IP address and each virtual server must be registered with the DNS server for your network. In addition, on a UNIX system, add these domains to your /etc/hosts file (if the setting for hosts in your /etc/nsswitch.conf file includes files).