What is a Virtual Hostname?
A virtual hostname in SNI refers to the hostname provided by a client during the SSL/TLS handshake to indicate the server it is trying to connect to when multiple virtual hosts are hosted on the same IP address and port using name-based virtual hosting. A virtual hostname is a hostname that is hosted on a server with other hostnames and lacks its own IP address. Similar to virtual reality, which only exists digitally and not in the real world, it is “virtual” in that it lacks a specific physical server.
What is Server Name Indication (SNI)?
All that a server name is is the computer’s name. Unless the server hosts a single domain and the server name is the same as the domain name, this name is not displayed to end users for web servers. An addition to the Transport Layer Security computer networking protocol is called Server Name Indication, which enables the client to provide the hostname it is attempting to connect to at the outset of the handshaking procedure.