Using XAMPP as a web server

[Stijn]

First of all - I did try searching the forums (and the internet) first, but everything I found didn't really answer my question or was in German

I've been using XAMPP without any problems for some time now, but for a project I'm currently working on I'd like to be able to show my friends the progress without uploading stuff or asking them to come over to my place. When I was still using phpdev instead of XAMPP I could simply put files in a "public" folder and it would be possible to reach it via my IP provided Apache was running. Is it possible to configure XAMPP, or the Apache server that comes with it, in such a way that people from "outside" my network can view files?

[Killerfrog]

absolutely !!!! This what XAMPP is build for !

You need to configure virtual hosts in apache\conf\httpd.conf
If you don't know how to setup a virtual host, check out on this forum, there is plenty of examples how to setup virtual host

also be sure your provider let you hosting on port 80
If not, you will need to setup a new port at the line "listen 80" in httpd.conf

(see one of the website I've done on my server : http://www.danybouchard.com (if you pass your cursor on a link you will see that the real adress is http://www2.danybouchard.com:8080 )

Also check your security configs on Xampp start page : when you put a website online, you need to be most secure possible because some idiots take pleasure to put servers down...

You will need to setup some lines for \apache\bin\php.ini for sendmail function and some others details such as desactivating global variables and mabye php in safe mode for some securty reason, but those could cause problems if you are a bad programmer (don't ask me anithing else about programming this is not my domain !)

[Stijn]

I'm somewhat experienced with PHP so that shouldn't be a real problem, but thanks for the tip

I did some searching for Virtual Hosts, but it seems that you use virtual hosts to make domain names redirect to your IP address, or at least that's what all topics were about. This is not really what I need, because I do not own a domain name and I only want people to be able to reach my PC via my IP. So, if my IP was 1.2.3.4, they would be able to go to http://1.2.3.4/something.php for example. How exactly do I set that up?

[Killerfrog]

you could get a free domain at dyndns.org

You can get up to 5 free domain there. Domains are not very user friendly, but for testing they are free and work great. As an example, you could use http://something.homeftp.net:8080 as domain and get a free redirection such as www.something.webhop.net

[Killerfrog]

If you are able to read in French, I've written a little article on my website (which is not finished) about bulding your own server using xammp. You could have a look on it :

http://ohara00.homeftp.net:8080/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=64

[WorldDrknss]

http://xampptutorials.com