How to give a 404 error for a http request to an ip address

Question

I have a fairly basic question. Please be patient with me.

As an example, say I host "www.example.com" and "www.another-example.com" on a single server with an ip address of "1.2.3.4".

Here would be a typical apache configuration:

Listen 80
NameVirtualHost *:80

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName www.example.com
# Other directives here
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName www.another-example.com
# Other directives here
</VirtualHost>

How do I return a 404 error code for a request to "http://1.2.3.4" without blocking all websites on the server?

Could you please include an example of an apache configuration directive I should be using?

Answer 1

First virtual host definition will be used as "catch all" in case if domain name in not known to Apache.

I know 2 solutions:

1. Create one more <VirtualHost> pointed into empty folder and make it listed above all other virtual host definitions.

2. Using mod_rewrite create a rule in first virtual host to return 404 response if %{HTTP_HOST} is an IP address.

Approach #1 is more logical and widely used. Approach #2 I would not use unless under some special circumstances.

Answer 2

The first defined virtual host will answer queries for the bare IP address. You can also just include a named virtual host for the IP address itself and point that at a directory with whatever you'd like to return in it.