How to use Apache Includes to add Configuration Directives to a specific domain's VirtualHost

Introduction

This article explains how to add your custom directives to a single domain's VirtualHost, inside the VirtualHost context.

Apache configuration directives have certain contexts associated with them. The contexts that are associated with a directive determine where a directive can exist. For more information about Apache's Contexts, please see their documentation:

Contexts | Apache Documentation

There are some Apache directives that need to be set within the VirtualHost context. If you need to add a directive to the VirtualHost context, you would need to use the method described in this article to do so.

Procedure

You'll need root access, either via SSH or WHM / Server Configuration / Terminal in WHM, to complete this task.

1. Log in to the server via SSH as the root user, or log into WHM as root and navigate to WHM / Server Configuration / Terminal in WHM.

CPANEL_WARN: For the commands below, replace $cpanelusername with the cPanel account username that holds the domain, and domain.tld with the domain name that you wish to add the custom configuration for.

2. Create the folders to hold your custom include files:

   # mkdir -p /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/ssl/2_4/$cpaneuser/domain.tld/

   # mkdir -p /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/std/2_4/$cpaneuser/domain.tld/

3. Create the include files themselves:

   # touch /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/ssl/2_4/$cpaneuser/domain.tld/include.conf

   # touch /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/std/2_4/$cpaneuser/domain.tld/include.conf

CPANEL_INFO: The "include" in "include.conf" can be changed, but the files are loaded in alphabetical order.

4. Using your preferred text editor, edit the newly created .conf files so they contain your desired directives.

5. Rebuild the Apache configuration to add the includes with this command:

   # /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/rebuildhttpdconf

6. Restart Apache so it reads the new configuration:

   # /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/restartsrv_httpd

Additional Resources

If you, instead, need to modify all VirtualHosts, see the following guide:

How to use Apache includes to add configuration directives to all VirtualHosts server-wide

For more information, please visit our Documentation:

Modify Apache VirtualHosts with Includes | cPanel Docs