Apache Virtual Host settings with hostnames

Question

I am using apache as my front http server which handles requests for JBoss 4.2.2 running as an application server.I have a J2EE application running on JBoss handles mutliple sites requests.

My IP is registered to xyz.com

a request to community1.xyz.com loads site for community1
a request to community2.xyz.com loads site for community2

I have single virtual host configured which listens to default (all requests) in ssl.conf

I need two different SSL certificates to be used for community1 and community2 How can configure 2 Virtual Hosts to with respect to the dns name to do so.

The reason I need to different SSL instead of 1 assigned to *.xyz.com is for the fact that community2.xyz.com is being redirected from another server mmm.com to my Apache server.

Answer 1

If you want to use two different certificates for the same IP address, you're going to have to use the Server Name Indication (SNI) extension, which is relatively recent (and might not be supported by all browsers, but it seems to work with recent ones).

You'll find more details about the configuration of the Apache Httpd front-end on this Apache wiki page:

http://wiki.apache.org/httpd/NameBasedSSLVHostsWithSNI

Answer 2

While you can use Server Name Indication (SNI), I would recommend simply getting another IP address because it is not fully supported (people with older browsers wouldn't be able to go to your site).