Web server Jaguar?

[richcs815]

I've been trying to make a few pages/files available on the web directly from my mac.

I think I followed the directions, but the people trying to get to my page(s) are just timing out.

I have a two way cable modem running on the ethernet port. I have no other stuff networked (ie it's just the mac plugged into the modem.) and I'm running jaguar.


I have never been this clueless on a mac before.

I can see my stuff myself, of course, but I can't tell what is going on from the outside. Any clues would be appreciated.

I suspect it may be something outside the mac, like my ISP or something, but I don't know how to check any of that.

thanx, richard s.

[Jeffo]

by default apache (the webserver in mac os x) tries to serve over port 80. alot of ISPs block this port to try to eliminate their users from serving sites. This would be one thing to check. have your "clients" try to ping your IP address and see if they get a response. in windows have them go to the start menu and choose run. then type "ping <IP ADDRESS>" then hit enter. on mac have them launch the terminal and type the same thing. this raises another question, are you giving them your IP address or are you trying to use a domain name?

[richcs815]

I am giving them the address that's in the web sharing panel. a bunch of numbers with /~mymame/ at the end of them.

But I recently saw that if you click on that you get one set with underlines like 255_255_255 etc. and a bunch of meaningless letters. But the other version is 255.255.255 as you would expect.

Is there an way for me to ping myself? Or find out about the port 80 thing from here?

thanks, richard s.

[wadesworld]

First things first.

Go to http://www.myipaddress.com

Is the IP address shown the same as the one you're giving out?

Next, go here:

http://www.dnsstuff.com/

and use it to ping your address. Did it work?

Next, use test 1 on this page:

http://www.auditmypc.com/freescan/scanoptions.asp

to scan your computer. Did it show port 80 open?

Wade

[richcs815]

First of all thank you very much for those sites!

I did all the suggested things and also called my ISP and they confirmed that they are not blocking anything. According to the above tests everything is working on the outside. As far as I know it should be working.


I managed to get a friend to successfuly ftp me on my address. But the http thing is not working. I really think I'm missing something obvious.

Keep in mind that I have never tried to make a server before. If I put the address in my browser I get the apache page, if I tack the /~name/ on to it, I get the index.html file that I put in the SITE folder.

But my friend's browser just times out. And yet the FTP experiment worked, but I know even less about FTP and I don't want to keep my machine open in that way.

still stumped. Ask me anything.

thanks again
richard s

[Jeffo]

if all you have open is your port 80 for serving webpages and all you have in the /Users/<username>/Sites/ folder and the /Library/WebServer/Documents/ folder are just simplet test files or the stock files then you should not have any security issues. if you want to post your IP i can try to access it. I also notice you said your "SITE" folder. is that a typo? if not then that could be the problem, but i don't think it is because you, yourself are able to hit the page and see the test page. if your ISP is not blocking anything and you can see the page, there is only two other things i can think of. either your friend is having computer troubles, or if you have a router in between your computer and your dsl/cable modem, then the router could be blocking the ports. This normally would be a good thing, but not if you want to serve a website. I know that my NetGear router came with all the ports blocked and i had to open it up manually. your friend is not trying to type in "http://www.IPADDRESS.com" is he/she? that would not work. I know that this is very basic and please don't take offense, but it could be something simple like that.