(Apache + Multipule name-based vhosts + SSL) = strange errors

Yesterday I discovered you cannot use apache to host multiple ssl-enabled sites on the same ip address. This was rather irking, but not the end of the world for my current project.

Apache will just use the first SSL declaration it finds for all following vhosts, and since it is TCP layer 4 and HTTP is TCP layer 5, this makes since the session is already setup by the time it gets the http request.

The thing that really got me though, is that if you define a name based vhost on port 443 with no ssl, and then define another one below it with ssl, Its perfectly happy. No errors. That is until you try and visit the site. Firefox kicks back a '-12263' error which translates to “SSL_ERROR_RX_RECORD_TOO_LONG”, and ie simply poops out saying it cannot connect.

I would think it could kick out some sort of error log entry for things like this….