---
name: "a2dissite"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "apache2"
version: "2.4.68-1~deb13u1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/a2ensite"
---

# a2dissite(8)

enable or disable an apache2 site / virtual host

Part of [a2ensite(8)](/a2ensite/8.md).

## NAME

a2ensite, a2dissite - enable or disable an apache2 site / virtual host

## SYNOPSIS

**a2ensite** \[-q\|--quiet\] \[-m\|--maintmode\] \[ *site* \]

**a2dissite** \[-q\|--quiet\] \[-m\|--maintmode\] \[-p\|--purge\] \[ *site* \]

## DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents briefly the **a2ensite** and **a2dissite** commands.

**a2ensite** is a script that enables the specified site (which contains a \<VirtualHost\> block) within the **apache2** configuration.  It does this by creating symlinks within **/etc/apache2/sites-enabled**. Likewise, **a2dissite** disables a site by removing those symlinks.  It is not an error to enable a site which is already enabled, or to disable one which is already disabled.

Apache treats the very first virtual host enabled specially as every request not matching any actual directive is being redirected there. Thus it should be called **000-default** in order to sort before the remaining hosts to be loaded first.

## OPTIONS

- **-q, --quiet**

  Don't show informative messages.

- **-m, --maintmode**

  Enables the maintainer mode, that is the program invocation is effectuated automatically by a maintainer script. This switch should not be used by end users.

- **-p, --purge**

  When disabling a module, purge all traces of the module in the internal state data base.

## EXIT STATUS

**a2ensite** and **a2dissite** exit with status 0 if all *site*s are processed successfully, 1 if errors occur, 2 if an invalid option was used.

## EXAMPLES

**a2dissite 000-default**

Disables the **default** site.

## FILES

- **/etc/apache2/sites-available**

  Directory with files giving information on available sites.

- **/etc/apache2/sites-enabled**

  Directory with links to the files in **sites-available** for enabled sites.

## SEE ALSO

[**apache2ctl**(8)](/apache2ctl/8.md), [**a2enmod**(8)](/a2enmod/8.md), [**a2dismod**(8)](/a2dismod/8.md), [**a2enconf**(8)](/a2enconf/8.md), [**a2disconf**(8)](/a2disconf/8.md).

## AUTHOR

This manual page was written by Stefan Fritsch \<sf@debian.org\> (based on the a2enmod manual page by Daniel Stone \<daniel@sfarc.net\>) for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution.