Steps to set up my domain with Apache

Hello,

I would like to know the steps to set up my domain with Apache including the use of DNS Services. I have DNS services (dnsexit is what I'm using) . I just don't know where to begin with it adding my domain. I've already went* to my preferences>>sharing>> web sharing and turned it on. My domain registrar is netfirms. I have an actiontec model- m1424-wr* router* and I have a verizon fios wireless connection that's always on. I've been doing my research on this. I'm just stuck on this part. However is it true that php/mysql is pre-installed on Mac osx 10.6? I hope I can get help. Thank you in advance.

Using your personal Mac as a webserver works when you are the only one using it for some private purposes..but hosting a site on it is usually not a smart thing to do. Web hosting from numerous people online including Netfirms is very cheap on a monthly basis and you can get things going very quickly/easily there.

Also know that all ISP's (Comcast, Charter, Verizon, what have you) have restrictions on residence customers who use their connection for high traffic websites. Even if you have a always on connection, high cap account, once you start passing gigabytes of data, you will get throttled and continue to do so and they will ask you to switch over to a business account where such things are acceptable.

So you might want to re-visit this strategy..

My website will not be a high traffic website

Well in that case..enable and test web sharing on your Mac. Ensure you can use something like http://localhost in your browser and have it should you a web page as opposed to an error.

Configure Apache on your Mac to the directory where your website is going to be and do the necessary configuration. Unless you change the Apache config, it will listen on port 80.

In your DNS system you would take your domain name and have it resolve to your Verizon public IP address. This will hit your router, where you will set a forwarding rule for all port 80 traffic to be sent to your Mac's internal IP address at port 80.

Thank you, I think I'm almost done. Someone told me to go to the network preferences and configure the static IP address that I selected. Use the same gateways and DNS settings that were assigned by DHCP. I'm in network settings. Am I suppose to put it in the DNS settings? I went to my domain and it says It works but not the message that Apache normally says about creating and publishing my own website isn't there.

Here's a pretty good article on turning your Mac into a web server. It is, however, a few years old so some of the information may be outdated. This will get things setup using your ISP's IP address, or using DynDNS and a customer domain.

How to Turn Your Mac Into a Web Server | Macinstruct

As mentioned, depending on your knowledge, or desire to learn really, it may be in your best interest to go with an actual web host where they do all this setup for you. Although, I have heard of people registering domain names and then using a free Dropbox account to host their site files, so that may be another option as well. There should be tutorials available on the web if you wanted to try that so i'd suggest searching Google. Good luck!

Thank you, I'll try this out and see how it goes. I have used web hosts for years. I started web designing and graphic design when I was 15 and now I'm 26. This is my first Macbook pro and right now I just can't get a web host for personal reasons. I'm just curious to how it will turn out. This is a trial for me.

Dropbox account? Thanks I'll look it up.