cant view my WinXP Apache (XAMPP) Server from the Internet

[nickgez]

OK! So where to begin.
This morning I woke up and decided that it would be really great to learn how to setup my own webserver at home. I have been working as a web developer for some time so im not a complete novice when it comes to this subject but I have always used paid hosting to host my websites so Ive never really looked into all the technical stuff that is required to create your own webserver at home.

I’ll cut to the chase. I have set up the web server and it appears to be working well from within my network but I cant see the website that I have built when I go to my ip address, in other words, I cant see the server from the internet.

I have installed XAMPP on an old laptop that I have got which is acting as my server and I have configured it so that my website will be available at port 8000. I chose to use port 8000 because when I go to my ip address (my WLAN IP) I see my router config page which I understand is at port 80 so I thought I should just use another port. When i go to view my website at my ip address - xx.xxx.xx.xx:8000 I get a “failed to connect - The connection was refused when attempting to contact xx.xxx.xx.xx:8000”

I have setup the router so that it forwards to port 8000 on the machine that is acting as the server (192.168.0.2) and I have even tried this with 2 different routers (a netgear and speedtouch) both of which don’t have port forwarding pages as such but “services and firewall rules” on the netgear and “application and gaming” on the speedtouch. I think that this part of the process is ok and seen as I am getting the same response using both routers, i feel that maybe they aren’t the problem.

I have also changed the apache config file so that it is listening to port 8000 and when I go to 192.168.0.2:8000 from another machine on the network I can see my website and it all works perfectly.

I tried disabling the firewall ( windows firewall ) on the server but this didn’t work either.
I really have spent all day on trying to get this work and the only other possibility that I haven’t considered is that my ISP is not allowing this. Could this be the case? Is there anything else that I haven’t done that causing this problem? If it is the ISP how do I know? I contacted my ISP and after spending 45 minutes speaking to a pretty useless “technical expert” I just had to accept that he didn’t know the answer.

I have viewed several online tutorial videos about setting up a web server in minutes – i.e download and install apache, setup the port forwarding and restart apache and bobs your uncle but unfortunately it just isn’t that easy in my case!

Any help would be really greatly appreciated and I look forwarded to learning from people who know lots more than me!!
Nick.

[wmorri]

Hi,

Welcome to TSF!!

I would two things double spacing your paragraphs. I fixed it for you but it will make it easier to read. Second I would have a look at setting up a DynDNS account and dns name that points to your ip. This will take care of the whole using your ip to connect. This will simplify things, too.

Cheers!

[zerofire]

Originally Posted by nickgez

I have installed XAMPP on an old laptop that I have got which is acting as my server and I have configured it so that my website will be available at port 8000. I chose to use port 8000 because when I go to my ip address (my WLAN IP) I see my router config page which I understand is at port 80 so I thought I should just use another port. When i go to view my website at my ip address - xx.xxx.xx.xx:8000 I get a “failed to connect - The connection was refused when attempting to contact xx.xxx.xx.xx:8000”

If when you enter your external IP you get the router config screen then your network is improperly or badly set up. Configuration screens should not be available to the outside world under any circumstances because a person with a brute force program can go ahead and find your password in a relatively short amount of time.