static ip with apache 2.2

[kwright]

I have a static IP address from BT e.g (213.213.213.213) which I see when I use WSMI from my browser. I have a domain registered with register.com (www.something.com) that points to 213.213.213.213. I have installed Apache 2.2 on Vista (not in the Program files section) which is very generic (unchanged from the install) and have tested that localhost sees "It works!" index.html OK.
My expectation would now be that when I type www.something.com into my browser I would see "It works". Instead I see the BT Router Screen. I have fiddled around and cannot get past the BT Browser screen.
Register.com have checked their side and BT have checked their side, so there must be some trick I am missing.

Please can anyone help

Thanks
Ken

[wimiadmin]

Have you set port 80 in the router to forward to the appropriate internal IP address?

[kwright]

I have a BT Voyager 220 V Router. I went in and set Port forwarding to forward 213.213.213.213:80 to 127.0.0.1:80 but that did not work

[wimiadmin]

Are you using 127.0.0.1 as an example here? If not, then that's the problem.

The computer that has Apache installed needs to have a static IP. Example would be 192.168.1.1. Then in the router you would forward port 80 to 192.168.1.1.

[clanmills]

Hi K

Testing this when you're inside the firewall isn't so easy. I ended up going to the library to test it. I wrote an article about my experience with this - can you read that as it might answer some of your questions. http://clanmills.com/articles/portforwarding/

127.0.0.1 is the localhost (every machine seems himself on that address). So your router has to forward to your machine on your LAN and that'll be something like 192.168.2.2). To the router 127.0.0.1 is himself.

So your static IP address is the address of your WAN (the internet address). You're router will have to portforward to your webserver on the LAN (local address).

Confused? Yes - you'll need a little determination and perseverance to get to the bottom of this.

Robin

[kwright]

Brian,

I do have a static IP, it is the 213.213.213.213 that has been assigned to me by BT. Register.com are pointing my domain www.something.com at 213.213.213.213 (port unknown to me. The laptop where Apache is installed and running is at 192.168.2.1 and listening on Port 80 (the Apache default).

Perhaps I should be Port forwarding 123.123.123.123 to 192.168.2.1:80 and not localhost (127.0.0.1)

What do you think?

Thanks
Ken

[kwright]

Robin,

Thanks I will work through this today

Cheers
Ken

[clanmills]

Hi Ken

You're very close here. Beware of the trap that when you're inside the LAN, you access your webserver using the 192.168.x.y number and that's the IP that your router should forward on port 80.

I put some information in the article about using a port scanner to see if port 80 is indeed visible from the WAN. You use a site such as http://browsershots.org to get an image from the WAN. I decided to go for a walk to the public library to 'eye-ball' it for myself.

You are very close here. I expect you'll get this working very shortly - keep plugging away.

Robin

[wimiadmin]

Originally Posted by kwright

Perhaps I should be Port forwarding 123.123.123.123 to 192.168.2.1:80 and not localhost (127.0.0.1)

Yep....exactly. Forward port 80 to 192.168.2.1.

BTW, Robin is right....it may not work internally so you'll need to go to your local library or take a laptop with you to a local cafe to check it out. It should also work from a cell phone if it has internet capability.

[AboveTheLogic]

You may be able to test it through a free proxy, just be careful about sending any passwords or anything through a public proxy.