virtualhost on xampp and accessible from external device

Question 1

Have you tried this configuration for your virtual host?

<VirtualHost *:80>
  DocumentRoot C:\xampp\htdocs\thisshouldbemysite.nl
  ServerName localhost
</VirtualHost>

Question 2

I want to cover a few things to give you the full picture, maybe if you better understand each part of the process then you can identify where your problem is and therefore find an answer.

The first thing we need to understand is how your browser knows where to go when you type in a domain name. Your browser will check your local hosts file, then your local DNS cache, then make a request to a DNS server. The DNS server is either set automatically by your ISP / DHCP, or set manually in your internet connection settings. So, making a request to a domain name, your browser/OS will check those places in that order for matching entries. If no entry is found, then the domain name will not resolve.

A DNS server can have different kinds of entries. It can tell you where a domain name is hosted, it can tell you where a subdomain is, it can point a domain name to another DNS server...its a flexible multi-use spot where a domain name can point to anywhere. Also depending on the kind of DNS entries are set for a domain name, your browser will automatically know if it needs to ask another DNS server for where a domain name points, or if that it the final result it is looking for. Improperly setup DNS servers can cause a user to get stuck in a DNS loop - where one DNS points to another DNS, and the 2nd DNS points back to the first DNS. These kinds of things are very easy to figure out.

The Hosts file is basically like a local, manually set DNS-like system. It allows you to say that "any.domain" is at "any-ip-address". In this manner you can locally over write or disregard other DNS resources. It's good for local stuff, but if you are going to want to access things from over the internet or by many devices, I highly recommend using a DDNS service, which I will go over below.

---Apache VHost File---

In the vhosts file I set a default vhost. This way, if I type in my IP or a domain name that doesn't have a vhost explicitly defined, I still get some kind of response from my web server. This is just my preference, but totally unnecessary. After I set a default, I explicitly define what domains/subdomains I want to serve.

NameVirtualHost *:80

##############localhost

ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost DocumentRoot "D:/xampp/htdocs" ServerName localhost

<Directory "D:/xampp/htdocs">
    AllowOverride All
    Order Allow,Deny
    Allow from all
    Require all granted
</Directory>

########othersite.local.whatever

ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost DocumentRoot "D:/xampp/othersite.local.whatever" ServerName othersite.local.whatever AllowOverride All Order Allow,Deny Allow from all Require all granted

After your VHost file is saved, restart apache. If apache starts then stops running automatically, then you probably have an error in your apache config / Vhosts file double check your work, try to start apache after saving each change you make until it works.

---Windows Hosts File---

Unless you have a DNS server setup, you will want to modify your Windows Hosts file in order to tell your machine that othersite.local.whatever points to your apache server. What this file does is locally point a domain name to an ip address. It does not effect other computers, it is only for this one machine that is also running your server.

The hosts file is located C:/windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts

Depending on your windows permission, you may need to copy the hosts file to the desktop first, open it up with notepad or your fav text editor, make your modifications, save it and copy it back to its original location. On a new line, add a new entry:

127.0.0.1 othersite.local.whatever

After you save your hosts file back to C:/windows/system32/drivers/etc/ you should now be able to access othersite.local.whatever on the server machine without issues. If you have other local windows computers, you can modify their hosts files to point to the server's ip address (usually something like 192.168.1.xx) so that those computers can also access the vhost at othersite.local.whatever.

192.168.1.?? othersite.local.whatever

---Addressing your problem through alternate means---

Depending on what your needs are, you can do a couple things.

1) Modify the vhost file on all windows computers, do some research on how to do it on other devices. If all the devices think that othersite.local.whatever points to your server, your server should respond with the proper vhost page. That is how it works weather on a local network or WAN / internet.

2) Setup a local DNS server, point all your devices to your DNS, and add an entry in your DNS to point to the domain to your server. This is a complicated task if you have never done it before, but you might find it useful.

3) Set up a Dynamic DNS (DDNS). This one is a little complicated, but it is actually pretty easy to do. It can really help you open up your options.

Here is how it works - your home internet connection's WAN IP probably changes from time to time - A Dynamic IP assigned from your ISP by their DHCP service. If you turn your internet modem off and on again, your IP probably changes. This is no good because if you have an external DNS or link that points to your IP in some way, and your IP changes because either your power turned off and on or DHCP renewed your IP lease with a new IP, then you are cut off from your server. So to get around this we have something called a Dynamic DNS. You sign up with a DDNS service (many of them are completely free), you run a little DDNS program on your PC. The DDNS program simply checks your IP address every few minutes and updates the DDNS servers with your IP. If your IP changes, then within minutes the DNS servers are notified of the change and you are back to accessing your server.

To get this all setup you need to setup your local internet connection to forward incoming connections on port 80 (your website probably runs on 80 unless you changed it) to your web server. Set your server's local IP address to a static one (so it doesn't change on your local network, you know something like 192.168.1.100 or whatever suits your needs) and modify your internet gateway/modem/router to forward everything on port 80 to your server PC.

I like to use a free DDNS service called No-IP (http://no-ip.com/). It's free, simple and reliable. Create an account with them, pick a single subdomain - you could go with something.bounceme.net or other predetermined free DDNS names. After you pick a name, install the DDNS / No-IP program on your server PC. Now something.bounceme.net will always go to your home IP. If you setup port forwarding properly, anything on port 80 will automatically go to your webserver.

Now the last step is to get a normal domain name to point to your home IP instead of something.bounceme.net. You could either pay No-IP to do some fancy stuff, or you can do it the free way which is what I will explain here.

I used Godaddy as a domain registrar the last time I did this, and everything has changed so much, you may need to call Godaddy or your domain registrar and ask where/how you can do this with their service.

First is, you need a domain name. Let's say you own homesite.com and let's also say you want laptop.homesite.com to point to your home web server.

For the domain homesite.com, add a DNS record of the type CNAME with a key of "laptop" and a value of your DDNS name "something.bounceme.net". This will make it so that laptop.homesite.com will resolve to your home IP address. Make sense? Now when you type laptop.homesite.com the DNS will tell it to check something.bounceme.net and that will resolve to your home IP.

There are some limitations to the CNAME entry. You can't forward just "homesite.com" to your DDNS IP. You basically have to use a subdomain entry, like laptop or home or something like that. One thing you can do, though, is use the 'subdomain' entry WWW, so that www.homesite.com will point to your home IP. If you use Godaddy, you get a free limited hosting account with your domain name that shows Godaddy ads on it. You can set this account up for "homesite.com" and place some redirect code in it to send users to "www.homesite.com". This way, people type homesite.com and automatically get sent to www.homesite.com.

I hope this is all making sense.

So let's review - Set your servers Static IP, setup port forwarding so the port 80 points to your server's local IP, setup a DDNS (like http://www.no-ip.com) and install their DDNS program, set a CNAME with your domain registrar so that www.yoursite.com points to your home server (CNAME www -> your-ddns-url.bounceme.net). Now you should be able to access your server from anywhere in the world at www.yoursite.com, from inside your local internet connection or from a starbucks.

You can also setup port forwarding for an FTP server (usually 21) to remotely edit your website or access your home files. You can do all kinds of things when you can remotely access your home PC.

I hope this short walk-thru will help you understand each part that is necessary to access an apache VHost across all devices. I like using the DDNS setup/option because you don't need to setup hosts file for each device or anything like that. It's just like accessing a regular website!

Questions or comments welcome. I literally just wrote this all out off the top of my head, I hope it helps.

Question 3

in this file there is virtual hosts definitions: C:\server\apache\conf\extra\httpd-vhosts.conf one virtual host already exist and you are using as default "localhost". create another one for new project with different port number (81 is here)

<VirtualHost *:81> DocumentRoot "C:\server\htdocs\YOUR_PROJECT_FOLDER" ServerName YOUR_SERVER_NAME <Directory "C:\server\htdocs\YOUR_PROJECT_FOLDER"> Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory> </VirtualHost>

than in this file contains default ports which apache will listen C:\server\apache\conf\httpd.conf

#Listen 12.34.56.78:80 Listen 80 Listen 81 add your new ports here

Now you can open http://YOUR_SERVER_NAME from local machine and open http://local_ip_adress_of_your_machine:81 from other local network connected pc. Windows users need to add new server name to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file

127.0.0.1 YOUR_SERVER_NAME

i hope it helps someone who need