Set Up an Apache VirtualHost on Debian 13 for Local PHP Projects

When developing multiple PHP applications on a Debian machine, using only http://localhost quickly becomes impractical.

Apache VirtualHosts allow you to associate a local domain name with each project. For example:

• http://my-project.local
• http://blog.local
• http://app.local

Each name can point to a different directory.

In this article, we will see how to configure an Apache VirtualHost on Debian 13 (Trixie) for a local PHP project.

The example will use:

• Debian 13;
• Apache 2.4;
• PHP 8.4;
• a project located in /var/www/my-project;
• the local domain name my-project.local.

Note: this configuration is intended for local development only and is not suitable for production use.

1. Install Apache and PHP

If Apache and PHP are not already installed, start by updating the package list:

Then install Apache and PHP:

Debian 13 currently provides PHP 8.4 as the default version. The php package is a dependency that points to the stable PHP version provided by Debian.

You can check the installed versions with:

You should see something like:

and:

The exact revision numbers may naturally evolve with Debian security updates.

Also, verify that the Apache service is running:

If necessary:

2. Create the Project Directory

We will place our project in:

Create the directory:

To quickly test the configuration, create a PHP file:

Add:

Save the file.

2.1. About Permissions

Apache typically runs under the system user www-data.

However, it is not necessary to give complete ownership of your project to www-data systematically.

For a development environment, it's often preferable for your Linux user to remain the owner of the project files and grant Apache only the permissions the application actually needs.

For a simple test, you can use:

Applications requiring writable directories, such as Symfony or Laravel, will need appropriate permissions on their cache, log, and uploaded file directories later.

3. Create the Apache VirtualHost

Apache site configurations are stored in:

Create the file:

Add the following configuration:

3.1. Explanations

VirtualHost *:80

Apache listens on HTTP port 80, regardless of the IP address used by the machine.

Name-based VirtualHosts allow multiple sites to share the same IP and port. Apache then selects the appropriate VirtualHost based on the ServerName or ServerAlias sent in the HTTP request.

ServerName

This is the name we will use in the browser:

It's recommended to explicitly define a ServerName for each VirtualHost.

DocumentRoot

This directive tells Apache where the site files are located.

<Directory>

Require all granted allows Apache to serve content from this directory.

AllowOverride All enables a .htaccess file to modify certain Apache rules.

If your application does not use .htaccess, you can opt for:

This is generally preferable when the application doesn't need it, as it centralizes Apache configuration.

Logs

Errors will be recorded in:

and access logs in:

4. Add the domain to /etc/hosts

Our domain my-project.local does not exist on the internet.

Therefore, we need to tell our machine that this name corresponds to 127.0.0.1.

Edit the file /etc/hosts:

Add:

You can also use:

if you want to use both names.

The /etc/hosts file thus simulates local DNS resolution. Apache does not create its own DNS entries for VirtualHosts.

If you are using another computer to access the Debian server, this modification must be made on the client machine or replaced by a real DNS configuration.

5. Enable the VirtualHost

The file we just created is located in:

This means it's available but not yet enabled.

Enable it with:

You can also disable the default Apache VirtualHost if needed:

However, this is not mandatory for our new VirtualHost to work.

6. Check the Apache Configuration

Before reloading Apache, always check its configuration:

If everything is correct, you should get:

This step is crucial: it helps avoid reloading a configuration with syntax errors.

You can then reload Apache:

A reload suffices here: it allows Apache to apply the new configuration without stopping the service entirely.

7. Check Active VirtualHosts

Apache provides a very handy command to examine configured VirtualHosts:

You should see a line corresponding to:

This command is particularly useful when a machine hosts multiple projects and you need to understand which VirtualHost Apache is using. The Apache documentation recommends apachectl -S for diagnosing VirtualHost configurations.

8. Test the Site

You can now open your browser and enter:

You should see:

If you prefer to perform the test from the terminal, use:

You should get the HTML content generated by PHP.

You can also verify directly that PHP is executed by Apache by temporarily creating:

with:

Then open:

You should see the PHP information page.

Delete this file afterward, as phpinfo() exposes a lot of information about the PHP environment:

9. Enable mod_rewrite if Necessary

Many modern PHP applications rely on Apache's rewrite module.

You can enable it with:

Then check the configuration:

and reload Apache:

[[[CODE_BLOCK_44]]

With:

in the VirtualHost, an application using a .htaccess file can define its own rewrite rules.

10. Add Multiple Projects

The real advantage of VirtualHosts becomes apparent when you have multiple projects installed on the same machine.

For example :

You can create :

site1.conf

site2.conf

Then add the names to /etc/hosts :

Enable both sites :

Check the configuration :

And reload Apache :

You can then access both applications with :

11. Use ServerAlias

If an application needs to be accessible via multiple names, use ServerAlias.

For example :

You will then be able to use :

[[[CODE_BLOCK_56]]

or :

Also add both names in /etc/hosts :

Apache uses ServerName and ServerAlias to determine which VirtualHost should respond to a given request.

12. Should You Use NameVirtualHost?

With older versions of Apache, you might have encountered a directive like this :

It is not necessary with Apache 2.4.

A modern configuration on Debian 13 simply uses :

Apache 2.4 natively handles name-based VirtualHosts.

Therefore, it's unnecessary to add NameVirtualHost *:80 in a new configuration.

13. Final Structure

At this stage, our installation looks like this:

And /etc/hosts contains:

The VirtualHost contains:

Conclusion

Setting up a VirtualHost for Apache on Debian 13 for PHP projects remains relatively straightforward.

The essential commands are:

Then:

Add the domain in:

Then enable and verify the site:

Finally:

allows you to check which VirtualHosts are actually being used by Apache.

You can then access your project with:

This method lets you replicate locally an organization similar to a real web server, while hosting multiple independent PHP projects on a single Debian 13 machine.