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Cannot connect to server

PostPosted: 04. February 2014 22:27
by ErraticFox
Over the week I was at my friends with my desktop. In that time short amount of time, I found out what a Apache server was. I set one up, port forwarded through his router and I was fixing up my own website with PHP and all.

When I came home today, I port forwarded all my stuff through my router and made my domain point to my (home) IP. I could not connect through my domain. So, I even did a clean, fresh install of XAMPP. I still cannot connect via domain name or public IP address. I can connect via localhost and local IP address.

So, why can't I connect through my domain name or my public IP address? The ports I forwarded are 80, 443, and 3306 (all TCP/UDP). I've turned my Apache and MySQL server off and used the pfportchecker program to check if the ports were open and it said they were.

So does anybody know the problem? Anybody that's not on the router, can connect. People on the router, cannot connect.

Re: Cannot connect to server

PostPosted: 04. February 2014 22:44
by JJ_Tagy
ErraticFox wrote:...
The ports I forwarded are 80, 443, and 3306 (all TCP/UDP).
...

Which is exactly why Altrea explains why exposing XAMPP to the internet is not recommended/supported.

Generally, if you find that you can't use your external IP and/or domain name from within your internal network, your router may not support loopback.

Re: Cannot connect to server

PostPosted: 04. February 2014 23:22
by ErraticFox
It's the latest Xfinity router. How can I tell if it doesn't support loop back?

Re: Cannot connect to server

PostPosted: 05. February 2014 00:10
by JJ_Tagy
Either consult the company or run your own tests. Looks like most of your tests are done. I would test from a smart phone or somewhere outside your network. If it forwards fine, then most likely it doesn't support it.

Re: Cannot connect to server

PostPosted: 05. February 2014 05:01
by Altrea
I am still hoping that you have the knowledge and spend the time to secure all public accessible XAMPP components.
XAMPP is not made or supported for live, production or public accessible environments.

Re: Cannot connect to server

PostPosted: 17. February 2014 22:11
by Colinf01752
Altrea wrote:I am still hoping that you have the knowledge and spend the time to secure all public accessible XAMPP components.
XAMPP is not made or supported for live, production or public accessible environments.


Forgive me if this question sounds a little ignorant, but I don't understand the purpose of integrating all of these components into xampp and then saying it cannot be put into a publicly accessible environment. Someone ike myself who has very limited html or php programming knowledge, needs something like this as a template to build their own server. If I had to do this from complete scratch my head would be spinning.

Colin

Re: Cannot connect to server

PostPosted: 17. February 2014 22:48
by JJ_Tagy
You can build a complete functioning site (and securely) without exposing it to the internet.

EDIT: And by that, I mean you don't have to expose your test environment to the internet.

Re: Cannot connect to server

PostPosted: 18. February 2014 00:31
by Colinf01752
So is the only alternative to go with Zend Server for it to be secure? Is there a free and/or cheap alternative that is more secure the xampp in general? Thanks for the help JJ.

Re: Cannot connect to server

PostPosted: 18. February 2014 04:48
by Altrea
Colinf01752 wrote:Forgive me if this question sounds a little ignorant, but I don't understand the purpose of integrating all of these components into xampp and then saying it cannot be put into a publicly accessible environment.

I am don't saying it cannot (in the sense of technically impossible). I am saying we don't support this so if you want to do this you are on your own.
The purpose of XAMPP is to build up a local test and development environment with with minimum effort.

Colinf01752 wrote:Someone ike myself who has very limited html or php programming knowledge, needs something like this as a template to build their own server.

An administrator of a public accessible webserver should have all the knowledge to integrate and secure up these single components on their own. This is not a task for a beginner.

Colinf01752 wrote:So is the only alternative to go with Zend Server for it to be secure? Is there a free and/or cheap alternative that is more secure the xampp in general?

Zend Server (there is also a free version of this) is made for production environments, so it is tuned for security and stability. But Zend Server is also a Stack, you cannot update any of their single components if there is a new security issue for any of them out there.
The only recommend alternative for a live webserver is to install and integrate all the needed single components on your own.

A good alternative for beginner users who want to have their own public accessible website are webhosting services or managed (v)server. You can rent them for a very small amout of money and don't need to bother of all the server security settings because they are doing this for you.

Re: Cannot connect to server

PostPosted: 18. February 2014 11:16
by Nobbie
Colinf01752 wrote:So is the only alternative to go with Zend Server for it to be secure?


Why Zend Server?

Colinf01752 wrote:Is there a free and/or cheap alternative that is more secure the xampp in general?


Any webhosting service. There are as well free services (mostly very limited), as well as cheap services (usually starting at 1 Euro or 1 Dollar a month) and there is "open end" in price and space.

Xampp is meant to develop and run your own scripts and projects AT HOME. If you like to run it in the WWW, go for a webhoster and transfer your scripts and projects onto the public server (provided server).