Allowing users outside my lan to preview web sites [closed]

Question

I develop on my local computer using wamp. When I start a new project I add a new virtual host entry to my httpd.conf file like so:

ServerName localhost:80

#
# DocumentRoot: The directory out of which you will serve your
# documents. By default, all requests are taken from this directory, but
# symbolic links and aliases may be used to point to other locations.
#
#DocumentRoot "c:/wamp/www/"
NameVirtualHost 192.168.1.103
NameVirtualHost 127.0.0.1
<VirtualHost 127.0.0.1>
    ServerName localhost
    DocumentRoot "c:/wamp/wwwjack/"
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost 127.0.0.1>
    ServerName fr.local
    DocumentRoot "c:/wamp/fr/"
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost 127.0.0.1 192.168.1.103>
    ServerName gg.local
    DocumentRoot "c:/dev/gg/"
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost 127.0.0.1>
    ServerName codeignite.local
    DocumentRoot "c:/wamp/wwwcodeigniter/"
</VirtualHost>

Periodically I would like to open up port 80 on my local network to give folks a preview of what I'm working on. I'm not talking about hosting a website from my home computer, just giving a quick snapshot.

After forwarding the port to my local IP, how do I setup so that a user only needs to type in my ip address and they see the virtual host I would like them to view? I would rather them not have to edit their host file for this.

Thanks!

Answer 1

You can't the way you are doing it. They'd have to be vpn'd into your network for that to work. And even if they were you'd have to use your lan side address, not your local loopback (127.0.0.1).

When apache gets the request it will try to match it with the vhost, but none of them will match.

Answer 2

Another option is to get a domain, and use DNS for your app-serving. So...

newapp23.yourdomain.com
newapp25.yourdomain.com

Set the names to be your home address. You'll have to change your VHost descriptions to accommodate (and your code must accept it too), but it would work.

Answer 3

I think you could use the No-IP service (http://no-ip.com/) to forward your ip to your box. Maybe you could then add the noip address to the vhosts list. Not sure though. Good luck!