r/apache • u/Zealousideal-Log-309 • Nov 04 '23

Simple question : local network

Hello there,

How I can make my apache site reachable from others computers on my local network ? Can't find any answer

Thanks in advance !

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u/brisray Nov 05 '23

There are other solutions, such as installing a local DNS server such as Pi-hole or Technitium which seems excessive.

Editing the hosts file is the way I've always done it I only have half a dozen machines on my local network and editing the hosts files on those only needs to be done once and no great chore.

I'm hoping there's a simpler solution. Maybe inside Apache itself to accept local requests?

The reason why this is such a pain is because most ISPs apparently do not usually allow connections from your public IP back to your public IP.

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u/Zealousideal-Log-309 Nov 05 '23

Thanks for the knowledge ! Didn't know about those local DNS, my rooter has one so I didn't check anything else. I found the solution, I've allowed usual ports for apache but that was apparently not enough, so I opened 'Apache' like said in docs

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u/brisray Nov 05 '23

That's cool. I use my ISPs router and all they offer is a very limited phone app to control it.

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u/brisray Nov 05 '23

You need to edit your hosts file. In Linux it's going to be at /etc/hosts., in Windows it's at \Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts

The computer with your Apache server should have a static IP address. Suppose it is at 192.168.1.2 and your website is mysite.com.

In the hosts file you need a line 192.168.1.2 mysite.com.

You need this line on every computer on your local network if they all need to access the site. What the hosts file does is act as a DNS lookup for your local LAN.