Apache not loading document root correctly - apache

Question

Apache shows default page and doesn't load site configuration. OS: Debian 10.
Site is enabled but somehow it doesn't show files from public_html folder. Any help is appreciated.
<VirtualHost *:443>
SSLEngine On
ServerAdmin admin#abc.com
ServerName abc.com
ServerAlias *.abc.com
DocumentRoot /home/xx/public_html
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /home/xx/ssl.cert
SSLCertificateKeyFile /home/xx/ssl.key
<Directory /home/xx/public_html>
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog /home/xx/logs/error.log
CustomLog /home/xx/logs/access.log common
LogLevel debug
</VirtualHost>

Answer 1

No enough reputation to comment, so I’m trying with an answer and will clean it up if useful.
No mention of what you’re finding, if anything, in your logs. I assume you’re accessing using HTTPS to be sure your requests are going to port 443, but if per chance you were not I would try that first by specifying the protocol when entering the URL in your browser - otherwise you are probably making your request to the server on port 80 and not 443 where your VirtualHost is listening.
http://example.com ====> browser sends request to port 80, default port for http
https://example.com ====> browser sends request to port 443, default port for https
Is there also a VirtualHost entry for port 80 to redirect those requests to 443? If your browser is trying to load it as http using port 80 first then perhaps that’s why you’re seeing the Apache default page as I believe the server will be attempting to serve from /var/www/html/ for requests on port 80 unless you have already pointed these elsewhere with another VirtualHost, etc.
An example of what I mean that I have in use; either the ReWriteEngine or the Redirect permanent may be redundant, but I can confirm it functions fine for me as follows:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName www.example.com
ServerAlias example.com
Redirect permanent / https://www.example.com
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{SERVER_NAME} =www.example.com [OR]
RewriteCond %{SERVER_NAME} =example.com
RewriteRule ^ https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [END,NE,R=permanent]
</VirtualHost>
For my setup, I preferred that the www subdomain be default and set up DNS intentionally to treat it as such, so the bare domain is ServerAlias in my instance.