Some questions about development server

[doodlebee]

I was wondering if anyone could help me with my localhost setup. A long time ago, I had a nice system set up on my Windows Machine (ran Apache, MySQL and PHP). I had a network of 4 computers attached to it, and everyone was accessing everyone else very nicely. (The 4 computers were: Windows XP, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Mac OSX.) I was also (and still am) using a Wireless router that my cable connection is hooked into - all computers stem from the router. The "localhost" is set up on my PC desktop.

I moved, and then a few months ago, I needed to upgrade MySQL and Apache. It had been a while since I set up the original system, and I remember it was a task to do. I was in a rush in getting my upgrade, so I went and got XAMPP - which was very nice.

However, some of my old settings were changed, and I haven't been able to figure out how to fix them.

The Windows 98 computer is gone, and the Windows 2000 has been upgraded to Windows XP - so there's no issues there. The *only* firewall I'm using is McAfee (I have the PWS and the Windows Firewall shut off)

I can connect all 3 computers together just fine, and access the shared printers and folders - BUT - when i *used* to be able to access the main computer by name, I can no longer do so. Now, every time I want to hook up my Mac to the main computer, I have to look up the current IP address issued by my router and hook up that way. I'd *really* like to get "smb://Shelly" to work again ("Shelly" being the name of the main computer.) I always get the error: "The Finder cannot completle the operation because some data in "smb://Shelly" could not be read or written. (Error code -36). I've tried finding what "Error -36" means, with no luck.

The other issue I'm having is that, when I try to connect to my localhost server via my Mac (localhost is on my XP machine) I can access the files, but the stylesheets are all not being read. When I view the source code, the stylesheet links are "localhost" instead of IP address. When I try to just type in "http://loaclhost" on my Mac, it takes me to a Page that says "If you can see this, it means that the installation of the Apache web server software on this system was successful..." instead of my C:\Websites folder (which houses the "localhost" I want to access)

Would anyone have any ideas on what I can do to fix either of these issues?

[phranque]

localhost is typically reserved for the loopback address (127.0.0.1) which is the local computer.
are you sure you don't have apache installed on the mac as well?

[mack]

Have you assigned static ip addresses to all machines connected to the LAN, it may be that your router is running DHCP and name resulution might be getting messed up because of this?

Mack.

[doodlebee]

I'm *guessing* my Mac does have Apache installed on it - if it does, it came that way (it's a Mac iBook G4 - I use it for writing stuff and to browsercheck, that's pretty much it.) But I know you don't get that message unless there's a server running on your machine that's running apache - so my impression always was that my Mac does have Apache installed and running on it.

And no, I have not assigned static IP addresses to all machines. I tried that once, long ago, and it messed things up when the cable service I used would change the IP address assigned to my main computer.

However, that was when my hook up was cable -> main computer -> router -> other computers on network. *Now* I have it cable -> router -> all other computers (we were tired of making it necessary for the main computer to be on to get connection on any other computer, so I changed it).

So I think this would be a good idea - to assign static IP addresses to all other computers and let the *router* sort it out. *However* - the hilarious thing is, I can't remember how to do it anymore, it's been so long since I've tried to.

I'll Google and see if I cant try it out...I'll post back.

[doodlebee]

Rock on - thanks for the idea! I assigned a static IP address to both my main computer and my Mac, and then changed the stylesheet links to reflect that IP address in place of "localhost"...and it's now working like a charm.

Thanks so much!

[mack]

Glad you got it resolved :)

Mack.