Problem accessing local sites in Apache on Mac OSX

Using Rendezvous

[msendt]

I am attempting to access local sites on my Apache webserver using the format [mattsibook.local...] but I consistently get the following error message:

While trying to retrieve the URL: [mattsibook.local...]

The following error was encountered:
Unable to determine IP address from host name for mattsibook.local

The dnsserver returned:
Name Error: The domain name does not exist.

This means that:
The cache was not able to resolve the hostname presented in the URL.
Check if the address is correct.

After searching for ages I thought I would ask for the assistance of you all.

[marcs]

Do you have an entry for mattsibook.local in your hosts file?

Not sure about OSX, if memory serves it is based on Unix, so the location is probably /etc/hosts

[mack]

not trying to patronise here, bur are you sure apache is running?

I sometimes get a similar error of it is not. In shell I use apachectl to start. Not sure about osx though.

That one has caught me out a few times.

Just a thought.

[msendt]

I think that the problem is that I didn't have an entry for the local files to bypass the proxy server.