Make my PC into a server

Many years ago a friend myself made a PHPNUKE website....

Back then he installed something on his PC that allowed us to access the site by going to 127.0.0.0 so he had it on his home PC without need of internet or hosting.

It was something with Apache if I remember correct. Anyone know where I can get this?

 

Hi,

fast & simple - EasyPHP http://www.easyphp.org/telechargements.php3

All in one...

 

I know a good software called Xampp. You can use that, its really a good bundled software. Please go to google and search with xampp and take the first choice.

 

If you want to make a webserver on your PC you should use Linux. Its the best way to set up a webserver. www.debian.org :9
If you are not familiar with linux or too lazy to find out how it works you can also use programs made for Windows. Like http://www.easyphp.org/

Basicly you need apache, mysql (or another database) und php to make a local site running.

 

You can find here a step-by-step tutorial about what you want.
In my opinion, it is best to have control at every step than to do not know what to do if a bundle does not want to install for some not-obvious reason.

 

Thanks for your help guys. I ended up installing WAMP.

I can make directories and access them using http://localhost and 127.0.0.1 but not with my IP address in browser?

Any ideas?

 

What do you mean? Do you want to type your IP address in browser and to see the localhost page?

 

Yup I'd love to do that... Like that I can host a page on my PC and have friends access it using my IP in their browser... That's possible, right?

 

You need a dynamic dns for that.
There are many site offering services for that for example http://www.dyndns.org

Otherwise it won't work.

 

But I have a static IP why should I need that? I thought a static IP would allow that

 

Yes, that is possible, however, yous ISP will limit your bandwidth. If they see too much going to that pc they will block you and make you get a business line.

 

Running at home a web server publicly accessible has some advantages and some disadvantages.


Advantages:
- you have full control over what you install
- you don’t have to pay for a web hosting account

Disadvantages:
- you have to keep your computer online all the time (in case you don’t know exactly when your friends are going to see your site)
- you have to take greater care of security


What is the real purpose of your website? Why not working on your computer to test it and then deploy on a public web host? If you do not want to pay, there are many free web hosts that support Apache/MySQL/PHP.


By the way, do you type http://64.233.187.99 or http://google.com? While both go to the same place, the last one is much easier to remember.

 

Like I said above:

"Like that I can host a page on my PC and have friends access it using my IP in their browser... "

This is purely a test page, will have it for a week or two on my pc before going to upload to a host. So how come when I type http://myIP it doesnt take me to the page but 127.0.0.1 will?

 

google: XAMPP
however i highly recommend not doing it, security is going to be a huge problem.

 

You can set on up using http://www.easyphp.org/telechargements.php3 as has been said but if you do use Linux and I prefer CentOS and also you must have a decent internet connection and the site will only be online if your pc is on so you can do that but to be honest from past experience it is so much easier just to buy shared hosting. You also have to pay for a control panel if you want one installed and you need a decent PC.