Forum Moderators: phranque
I just downloaded Apache web server, and installed it on Windows XP. I have been doing alot of work with PHP, testing scripts and making them for people. Along the way I have had many webmasters ask me to show them a sample of sorts, and I am getting dead tired of making screen shots. So I heard it was possiable to use apache as sort of a host, anyone typing in my URL will go to my testing page on my remote computer and see the work I have done.
Problem is, I have no idea how this is done. Added on to THAT problem I am behind a router. So I do not know which IP adress I need to put where, and all that good stuff since I have a few. One given out by the router, then the one for the router blah blah. If some one could go in to detail on what exactly I need to do in order for me to be able to do the above task, or have a site that explains it more clearly ( more newb'ish ) then apache's home page does, I would greatly apreciate it.
Welcome to WebmasterWorld!
Starting from the 'net, working our way in, and covering only the high points:
If you want your server to be accessible by domain name, you'll need to register a domain name, and have a DNS zone file set up that points that domain name to the WAN (external) IP address of your router. You'll need to review your ISP's policies to make sure this is acceptable to them. If it's not, then you need to be aware that they may discontinue your service if they notice incoming traffic. ISP's policies range from harsh to non-existent, and their enforcement ranges from immediate to non-existent. Incoming traffic is very easy to detect, if they look for it. There are often very good traffic-engineering reasons for these restrictions, so don't think of them as arbitrary. It's best to run a server only if your ISP approves of doing so.
If you don't want to set up a domain name, then your server will still be accessible, but people will have to type in your router's WAN IP address to get to it, i.e. "http://172.0.0.19/no_more_screen_shots.html" instead of "http://yourcomain.com/no_more_screen_shots.html"
The next step is to pull out your router manual, and see how it handles incoming connections to a server. In most cases, this is described as "using the DMZ port" or "IP port forwarding" -- variations on those themes. The idea is that the router must be told how to recognize incoming connection requests to HTTP port 80 (or, if necessary due to ISP restrictions, another port such as port 8080) on it's WAN port, and how to "forward" those connection requests to the machine running the server.
Finally, the server must be set up to respond to those incoming connection requests.
That's the easy part, actually. The hard part of this is how to make your server secure. I can't give much advice on this subject, except to say that you don't want the server software to run as a priveleged (admin or super-user) account, and it's a very bad idea to keep any information of value on the machine that's running as a server. Hopefully, someone will come along and post something more useful regarding securing setups like yours.
Anyway, there's my 3-minute overview. Hopefully it will at least help you to focus your questions.
Jim
If you want your server to be accessible by domain name, you'll need to register a domain name, and have a DNS zone file set up that points that domain name to the WAN (external) IP address of your router. You'll need to review your ISP's policies to make sure this is acceptable to them. If it's not, then you need to be aware that they may discontinue your service if they notice incoming traffic. ISP's policies range from harsh to non-existent, and their enforcement ranges from immediate to non-existent. Incoming traffic is very easy to detect, if they look for it. There are often very good traffic-engineering reasons for these restrictions, so don't think of them as arbitrary. It's best to run a server only if your ISP approves of doing so.If you don't want to set up a domain name, then your server will still be accessible, but people will have to type in your router's WAN IP address to get to it, i.e. "http://172.0.0.19/no_more_screen_shots.html" instead of "http://yourcomain.com/no_more_screen_shots.html"
You could also use the free service of hxxp://www.no-ip.info. It would give you a domain name such as hxxp://your_name.no-ip.info. This works well even if your IP address is not static. Only reason I mention it is that I am using it for now and have had no problems at all with it.
Just be sure to read up on securing whatever server you decide to use. Especially if you intend on using IIS.
[edited by: jdMorgan at 1:56 pm (utc) on Mar. 14, 2005]
[edit reason] Obscured specifics per TOS. [/edit]
