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laslane007 · May 22, 2006, 11:10 PM

Hi all, I am trying to setup my powermac as a LAN-based server so that I can test websites locally and view them on my powermac and windows pc. I assume this means using apache that came with OS X, but I'm not sure what goes into configuring it to have multiple sites viewable locally.

I came across a utility by patrick gibson that allows me to setup virtualhosts and works great for viewing everything on my powermac. Thus, I have http://site1 and http://site2 pulling up their respective sites perfectly from my apple.

My question is, how can I make it so that my pc with windows xp pro can view http://site1 and http://site2 as well?

The only thing I've found is the windows hosts file that allows me to associate IP addresses with domain names, but apache virtualhosts all use the same ip (127.0.0.1), right? Can xp be altered to view my virtualhosts or is there an alternative approach to configuring apache to setup different IP addresses for each site so then I could alter m hosts file on the windows pc?

Any suggestionis would be greatly appreciated!

Oisín · May 23, 2006, 05:21 AM

Why so much bother? Isn’t it easier to just use http://localhost/site1 and http://localhost/site2, and then connect from the PC via http://12.34.56.78/site1, etc. (“12.34.56.78” being the PowerMac’s IP, of course)?

SirCastor · May 23, 2006, 09:50 AM

I have to agree. If you're just testing websites, then it would be easier just to put your sites in separate directories under your webserver's root (Library/WebServer/Documents/) and do that. In fact, that's how I do it. However I just set myself up with a dyndns.org name, and I actually access the mac over the (sometimes) it works, either way really.

laslane007 · May 23, 2006, 03:41 PM

Well, the problem arises with certain items that look for the root folder. Some of my scripts look for the root, which in your case would be "localhost/site1", but my scripts would read "localhost" only and obviously break. Patrick Gibson's virtualhost was a lifesaver in that it allows me to setup multiple root directories. Thus, each site gets its own root, just like the web server setup. But, I'm back to my issue with my windows pc not being able to access them using the apache virtualhost.

Believe me, if all I was doing was basic HTML pages, subdirectories would be the way to go. Unfortunately, that's not working in this situation.

laslane007 · May 23, 2006, 03:52 PM

Should I just bite the bullet and purchase Virtual PC? Will this remedy the issue? Would it be able to pick up my virtualhosts?

jay3ld · May 23, 2006, 05:24 PM

no vpc wouldn't...
the way that is being suggested would be your best bet. You might be able to use mod_rewrite to direct root directories.
But my modem/router unit has the ability to set the virtual directories. May check to see if your does have this. Mine is under DNS setup...

datawrangler · May 25, 2006, 09:12 PM

Another possibility is to serve your different websites on different ports. This way you avoid DNS issues and other boxes on your LAN can test the sites thusly: http://192.168.1.11:8000, http://192.168.1.11:8001, ...etc. I'm sorry I can walk you thru the steps, but it is a common apache setup and online documentation should be abundant.

laslane007 · May 25, 2006, 10:48 PM

Originally Posted by datawrangler

Another possibility is to serve your different websites on different ports. This way you avoid DNS issues and other boxes on your LAN can test the sites thusly: http://192.168.1.11:8000, http://192.168.1.11:8001, ...etc. I'm sorry I can walk you thru the steps, but it is a common apache setup and online documentation should be abundant.

Different ports? I haven't thought about that. Anyone here have any experience with this? I'll see what I can find resource-wise on that.