> > Resending this to this list as I got no response on users list.

Sorry, I missed the original version of this post.

> > Currently, we are using flat config files generated by our website
> > provisioning software to support our mass hosted customers. The reason
> > for doing it this way, and not using the mod_vhost_alias module is
> > because we need to be able to turn on/off CGI, PHP, Java, shtml etc on
> > a per vhost basis. We need the power that having a distinct
> > <VirtualHost> directive for each site gives you.
> >
> > Is there a better way?

The mod_vhost_alias way came from a heritage of very basic web site
provisioning, with little change in architecture since 1996. The
model was abusing the filesystem as a database -- we were using
permissions on users' home directories to record if they had been
barred or had exceeded their quota. We also abused the DNS as a
database, which is where UseCanonicalName DNS came from.

>From a more recent perspective this is foolish (or at least naive).

> > In addition to these features, the module would keep track of the
> > amount of data transferred in & out for each vhost and apply a
> > soft/hard limit when the limits defined in the LDAP entry were reached.
> > The amount of actual data transferred would periodically be written to
> > either a GDBM file or even to an LDAP entry (not sure what is best -
> > probably LDAP for consistency) and the data would also need to be
> > shared among any servers in a cluster somehow.
> > This would enable ISPs to bill on a per vhost basis fairly accurately,
> > and limit abusive sites.

This part of it should be separate from the vhosting side of things.
How you provision a web site is independent of how you accumulate stats
on it. It's a logging module, which is naturally separate from a
URI->filename mapping module -- though a proper vhosting module needs
to hook into the DirectoryWalk side of things to do permissions.

> > Will another method give me what I want? (LDAP is not a dependency,
> > just a nice-to-have)

Clever application of .htaccess files, <directory> sections containing
AllowOverride directives, etc. *may* be good enough, but it's a very
blunt tool.

Sounds like you're aiming for something good. Lots of people have asked
me for database-driven mod_vhost_alias (which misses the point, but)
so there is a clear need. Don't worry too much about the project
management side of things -- just write the code and the docs and publish
it, then keep polishing and answering emails.

Tony.
-- 
f.a.n.finch  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>  http://dotat.at/
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