# Virtual Hosting

[Virtual hosting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_hosting) is a method
for hosting multiple websites with different domain names on a single web
server. The idea is to redirect external traffic from the CSC web server to
your VM based on the domain name. If you are hosting a website on your VM
and you would like it to be publically accessible, you will need to create
a vhost record for your VM.

## Domain limitations
Each member may create up to 10 vhosts whose domains end with
`<username>.csclub.cloud`.

For example, if your username is `ctdalek`, then the following vhost domains
are all valid:

* ctdalek.csclub.cloud
* www.ctdalek.csclub.cloud
* abc.def.ctdalek.csclub.cloud

## Creating a vhost record
Let's say your VM's IP address is 172.19.134.121 and you wish to use the domain
`ctdalek.csclub.cloud`. You must already have an application running on port 80
in your VM (e.g. NGINX).

Login to a [CSC general-use machine](https://wiki.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/Machine_List)
and run the following:
```sh
ceo cloud vhosts add ctdalek.csclub.cloud 172.19.134.121
```
In addition to creating the vhost record, this command will also provision a TLS
certificate for your website (from either [ZeroSSL](https://zerossl.com/) or
[Let's Encrypt](https://letsencrypt.org/)). You should now be able to visit your
website over HTTPS from your browser, e.g. `https://ctdalek.csclub.cloud`.

!!! warning
    To avoid having to reload our web server too frequently, and to reduce the risk
    of getting banned by our ACME service provider, we have set a rate limit on the
    command above for **once every five minutes**. We apologize for the inconvnience.

To view your vhost records, run the following:
```sh
ceo cloud vhosts list
```

To delete a vhost record, run the following:
```sh
ceo cloud vhosts delete ctdalek.csclub.cloud
```

!!! info
    Multiple domain names can point to the same IP address, but a single domain name
    can only point to one IP address.

## Using a custom domain name
If you wish to use a custom domain name which you have purchased from an external
registrar, please make it point to the IP addresses of `csclub.cloud`. As of this writing,
this is:

* IPv4: `129.97.134.10`
* IPv6: `2620:101:f000:4901:c5c::10ad`

Then, please send an email to the [Systems Committee](mailto:syscom@csclub.uwaterloo.ca)
requesting a vhost record for your domain. Make sure to also provide the IP address
of your VM.