Apache virtualHost ignored or pointing to the default one - macos

Question

I'm trying to setup my Apache on OSX, but I'm not able to make my local url 'awr.local' point to the correct path. I mean whether I type http://localhost or http://awr.local, it always shows me the index.html page in my 'localhost' vhost path.
I've restarted my httpd service countless times, with or without sudo.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks :'|
I've been following a tutorial (https://getgrav.org/blog/macos-sierra-apache-multiple-php-versions), here are the steps about Apache :
Disabling the bundled Apache and installing the one from homebrew :
sudo apachectl stop
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist 2>/dev/null
brew install httpd
Then, some httpd.conf modifications :
# changed Listen 8080 to :
Listen 80
[...]
# changed DocumentRoot "/usr/local/var/www" to :
DocumentRoot "/Users/wallace/dev/default"
[...]
# changed <Directory "/usr/local/var/www"> to :
<Directory "/Users/wallace/dev/default">
[...]
# changed AllowOverride None to :
AllowOverride All
# uncommented :
LoadModule rewrite_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_rewrite.so
[...]
# changed
# User _www
# Group _www
# to :
User wallace
Group staff
[...]
# added the missing line :
ServerName localhost
Until this point everything seemed to be working fine, I've installed PHP and MariaDB without any problem.
Then came the virtual hosts part :
Some other httpd.conf modifications :
# uncommenting these lines
LoadModule vhost_alias_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_vhost_alias.so
[...]
Include /usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
Editing the file /usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf :
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot "/Users/wallace/dev/default"
ServerName localhost
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot "/Users/wallace/dev/awr"
ServerName awr.local
</VirtualHost>
The /etc/hosts file :
127.0.0.1 localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1 localhost
127.0.0.1 awr.local
::1 awr.local
The output of 'httpd -S' :
VirtualHost configuration:
*:80 is a NameVirtualHost
default server localhost (/usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf:25)
port 80 namevhost localhost (/usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf:25)
port 80 namevhost awr.local (/usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf:30)
ServerRoot: "/usr/local/opt/httpd"
Main DocumentRoot: "/Users/wallace/dev/default"
Main ErrorLog: "/usr/local/var/log/httpd/error_log"
Mutex rewrite-map: using_defaults
Mutex default: dir="/usr/local/var/run/httpd/" mechanism=default
Mutex mpm-accept: using_defaults
PidFile: "/usr/local/var/run/httpd/httpd.pid"
Define: DUMP_VHOSTS
Define: DUMP_RUN_CFG
User: name="wallace" id=501 not_used
Group: name="staff" id=20 not_used

Answer 1

Well, today when I was preparing to try the answer of Juan, I had something new : instead of serving me the localhost, the awr.local url showed me a 403 forbidden. After a new research & doc reading, I managed to make it work like this :
My /usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf file :
The Require all granted is the most important part.
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot "/Users/wallace/dev/default"
ServerName localhost
<Directory "/Users/wallace/dev/default">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot "/Users/wallace/dev/awr"
ServerName awr.local
<Directory "/Users/wallace/dev/awr">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
I had to restart Apache with sudo for it to work :
sudo brew services stop httpd && sudo brew services start httpd

Answer 2

I had the same problem and couldn't get it to work no matter what I tried. Stopping, starting or restarting httpd did not work. Even though httpd -S always reported the correct settings, all browsers loaded the default docroot, regardless of the virtualhost settings. Then I noticed something strange. After stopping httpd with brew services stop httpd I reloaded localhost in the browser and it still loaded without a problem. This gave me the idea to sudo killall httpd then start it again with brew services start httpd. After this, all was fine.

Answer 3

Considering how much time I spent on this, I will be dropping my own fix too.
First of all I noticed that all server names using the 127.0.0.1 IP always points to the default directory. I edited my custom domain to use 127.0.1.1 in /etc/hosts.
In /usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf, edited it according to Alfred's answer as I was initially getting a 403 too.
Files looks something like this;
/etc/hosts:
##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 customdomain.local # note: 127.0.1.1
127.0.1.2 customdomain2.local # note: 127.0.1.2 (will increment for each new domain)
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1 localhost
::1 customdomain.local
::1 customdomain2.local # this part is equally important though I am not sure why
/usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf:
<VirtualHost customdomain.local:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster#customdomain.local
DocumentRoot "/Users/user/Projects/customdomain/public"
ServerName customdomain.local
<Directory "/Users/user/Projects/customdomain/public">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
Confirm that your Listen value in /usr/local/etc/httpd/httpd.confis 80.
This might not be the best solution but should solve the issue.

Answer 4

This is how I have it setup (I've made changes to match your configuration).
Besides awr.local must be in your /etc/hosts file pointing to 127.0.0.1 or any other network interface you want to use.
<VirtualHost awr.local:80>
DocumentRoot "/Users/wallace/dev/awr"
ServerName awr.local
<Directory "/Users/wallace/dev/awr">
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
allow from all
Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>