Name-based hosting...serveralias goes to external site with same name

OK, I have been away from this project for a couple of years, so am a bit rusty.  But...

Below is an extract from my httpd-vhosts.conf file (and it is included in httpd-vhosts.conf).

When I enter www.refactor.com in my browser, I expect my named host to take preference over the real external site of that name, but it doesn't.  Where am I going wrong please?

# Use name-based virtual hosting.
#
NameVirtualHost *:80

#
# VirtualHost example:
# Almost any Apache directive may go into a VirtualHost container.
# The first VirtualHost section is used for all requests that do not
# match a ServerName or ServerAlias in any <VirtualHost> block.
#
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName localhost
    DocumentRoot "E:/xampp/htdocs"
    <Directory "E:/xampp/htdocs">
	Options +Indexes FollowSymLinks +ExecCGI +Includes
	AllowOverride AuthConfig FileInfo
	Order allow,deny
	Allow from all
	</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

## My first domain ##

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName myfirstdomain.com
    ServerAlias www.myfirstdomain.com
    DocumentRoot "E:/xampp/htdocs"
</VirtualHost>

## My second domain for refactoring the FOBG site ##

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName refactor
    ServerAlias www.refactor.com
    DocumentRoot "E:/xampp/htdocs2"
    <Directory "E:/xampp/htdocs2">
	Options +Indexes FollowSymLinks +ExecCGI +Includes
	AllowOverride AuthConfig FileInfo
	Order allow,deny
	Allow from all
	</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

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colinspursAsked:
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giltjrCommented:
What do you mean by "the real external site of that name"?

If everything is setups correctly you see see whatever is located at "E:/xampp/htdocs2"

1) You need named virtual host configured correctly.
2) The host name www.refactor.com needs to point to the IP address that Apache is listening on.

So, if you do "nslookup www.refactor.com" does it return the IP address that your server is listening on?
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colinspursAuthor Commented:
Thanks for replying.

I want to see see whatever is located at "E:/xampp/htdocs2".  Instead I see www.refactor.com (actually it redirects to http://refactor.com.au/

So everything can't be set up correctly.

 I think we need to go back to basics here...how do I know what IP address Apache is listening on?
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colinspursAuthor Commented:
I don't think it's set to specific IP addresses?
# Change this to Listen on specific IP addresses as shown below to 
# prevent Apache from glomming onto all bound IP addresses.
#
#Listen 0.0.0.0:80
#Listen [::]:80
Listen 80

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giltjrCommented:
Again, what IP address does www.refactor.com  reslove to?
     Issue command: nslookup www.refactor.com 


What is the IP address of your Apache server?  
If Windows issue the command: ipconfig
If *inx issue the command : ifconfig
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colinspursAuthor Commented:
www.refactor.com resolves to67.222.132.198

 IP address of my Apache server 192.168.0.3
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giltjrCommented:
O.K., then your Apache server is not the web  server that is hosting www.refactor.com.

Are you trying to setup a test site for www.refactor.com?

If so, then in your hosts files you can code:

192.168.0.3 www.refactor.com

Your hosts file is MOST likely located at C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc.  Depending on which version of Windows you are running you will have to edit as Admin.  Just remember if you want to go to the "real" www.refactor.com, you will need to comment out the line above in your hosts file.
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colinspursAuthor Commented:
I cannot find the hosts file.  There is no etc folder.

Yes I am trying to set up a test environment which I have successfully done before.

I am running Windows 7.
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giltjrCommented:
You need admin authority on your PC.  Issue the command:

cd "%windir%\system32\drivers\etc"

and then look for the file hosts.  There is no suffix on the hosts file, the full file name is just plain hosts
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colinspursAuthor Commented:
Ok thanks...all my test environments are there, with 127.0.0.1  as IP address...I'll change them all to 192.168.0.3

Would my IP address ever change?

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
#      127.0.0.1       localhost
      127.0.0.1       refactor
      127.0.0.1       oop
      127.0.0.1       cljs
      127.0.0.1       fobgnew
      127.0.0.1       cl
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giltjrCommented:
Unless you have Apache on your PC to specifically listen on 192.168.0.3 you can leave 127.0.0.1 (local loopback address).

I would assume your PC gets its address using DHCP, which mean your 192.168.0.3 address could change, so I would continue to use 127.0.0.1.
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colinspursAuthor Commented:
So it's a puzzle then....  hosts is correct, httpd-vosts.conf and httpd.conf all look in order...what's my next step d'you think?
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giltjrCommented:
Hosts does NOT look correct to me.  You have

127.0.0.1       refactor

That means the host name "refactor" will reslove to 127.0.0.1.  You need:

127.0.0.1 www.refactor.com
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colinspursAuthor Commented:
You always surprise me with the speed of your response!

Ok, I think I have it now...hosts resolves to the server name, not serveralias as I thought.  So I don't need serveralias at all?
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giltjrCommented:
I don't know about that. Servalias does have it place.  However typically I would expect to see something more like:

    ServerName refactor.com
    ServerAlias www.refactor.com
   
Or

    ServerName www.refactor.com
    ServerAlias refactor.com

You should never have just a "single" level name coded for ServerName or ServerAlias.   You should have either the domain name or a fully qualified host name.   In the above examples the domain name is refactor.com and the host name is www, the fully qualified host name is www.refactor.com.  

The way you had "refactor" coded in your hosts file, that would be a host name.  When Windows, actually any OS, goes to lookup that host name it would look in the hosts file first.  If it is not in the host files it will start appending domain names to the end based on the domain name search order list.  In Windows these are option in the DNS tab on Advanced networking configuration of the NIC.

With the way  you HAD your hosts file configured you should have been able to ether http://refactor and get your test page, but anything else would not have matched anything in your hosts file, so it would have go through normal DNS resolution.
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colinspursAuthor Commented:
Ok, thanks.  All fine now.  I really appreciate your help and patience.
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