test website online via your own pc

greedyisg00d

Hi I am just new to web deployment and my question is if it is possible to host your website online using your own pc for evaluation purposes only meaning the site will not be 24/7 up. I already tested my site through localhost but what I want is to test it online so that my friends can evaluate it in order for us to detect some errors. Step by step procedure is much appreciated or you can give me some links on how to do it. Btw I have used dreamweaver 2004 in developing my project

Thanks

shamly

Do you have a dynamic internet connection? If so when you want to test the site go to http://www.whatismyip.com and get your current IP. Give this IP to your friends. I think this should work .. try it out

sneakyimp

I'm guessing that your computer is connected to a LAN somewhere. Are your buddies on the LAN? If so, you'll need to check your network settings to see what your IP address is. Mine is currently 192.168.1.100 but this can change because my machine is configured to ask for an IP from my router. If I'm not the first computer to start up in the morning, it can be .101, .102, etc. But since it is .100, I can send this link to anyone who happens to be on my LAN:
http://192.168.1.00

Now if you and your buddies are NOT on the same LAN it gets more complicated. If you just connect directly to a cable modem, you may be able to send them your external ip. by 'external' I mean the one given to your cable or dsl modem by the cable/phone company. You can find this one by going to http://www.whatismyip.com/ . Note that 'external' in this case is not some official term, just one I'm using.

If you are connecting to your ISP and are using a wireless router then you may need to configure port forwarding on the router. That's a bit more involved. You may want to consider visiting http://port-forward.com in that case.

Kudose

sneakyimp;10909415 wrote:
If you are connecting to your ISP and are using a wireless router then you may need to configure port forwarding on the router. That's a bit more involved. You may want to consider visiting http://port-forward.com in that case.

There are detailed instructions there for multiple router vendors, but it all breaks down to forwarding incoming port 80 TCP connections to your local IP address.

amax

I never knew it was justa matter or replacing http://localhost with your ip address. Surely ther eis much more to it than this. I think you actually need so configuration to turn your machin into a server if I am not wrong?

Kudose

amax;10909511 wrote:
I never knew it was justa matter or replacing http://localhost with your ip address. Surely ther eis much more to it than this. I think you actually need so configuration to turn your machin into a server if I am not wrong?

There is, but the OP said that a site was already working locally.