The webpages I host on the server cant be viewed..

[hanaa]

Hi

I installed the Apache server 2.2.9 (HTTP server project). When I installed it the last time, I could host pages on the server, my friends could view the pages that i made. But recently, I installed it again. I put the files in htdocs, start the server, give them the link to the page, and it seems they see a "Page cannot be displayed" message.. Would someone please help me.

Thanks,
Hanaa.

[Atli]

Hi.

This could be caused by a number of reasons.

The most likely one would be that the HTTP server isn't looking in the right place. Make sure the DocumentRoot directive in your configuration file (usually httpd.conf) is pointing to the correct place.

Another likely reason is that your server doesn't have access to read the files. Try changing the permission on the files you want to be visible. On Linux that could be as simple as:

$ chmod 755 /path/to/my/file.ext

Windows probably has some defective wizards to do that.

If that doesn't work, you could try changing the <Directory> permission in the Apache config file.
Find the <Directory> that matches your DocumentRoot directive and change the Order directive for that directory.
Make it looks something like:

DocumentRoot /var/www/ # This is probably elsewhere in the file.
<Directory /var/www/>
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    AllowOverride All
    Order allow,deny
    allow from all
</Directory>

[hanaa]

Hey..

I'm afraid I didnt really understand. I use Windows. I can see the pages on my browser. Just that others cant, when given the link. I didnt have this problem before. And I installed the server the same way I did before.

Thanks,
Hanaa.

[Atli]

Make sure the windows firewall isn't blocking it.
You may need to add an exception to let TCP port 80 through.

[hanaa]

The windows firewall has always been off. Is there anything that I must change in the apache configuration file?

[Atli]

Unless you have gone out of your way to make Apache ignore remote connections, it should accept connections from anybody that can connect to it.

Usually when this happens there is something blocking it, like a Firewall.
There are a number of applications that can do this. Anti-Virus packages, OS security (Windows Firewall for one), routers and proxies, etc...

One thing tho... what is the exact link the remote clients are using to try to connect to you?

On the server computer you would probably use something like "http://localost/page.html", but your remote clients would have to use something like "http://123.456.789.0/page.html", replacing the fake IP there with the IP of your computer.