port 80 problems

[wmmk]

my site on the teccion server is down, so i again try to host my own stuff. when i am trying to forward port 80 on the belkin, i get this message:

The public port number can not be 80.Because it will have a collision with the Wireless Router web service.

wtf does this mean? also, my firewall is on, but is there anything else to do to keep safe before i start using my mac as a web server?

thanks!

 

[iMeowbot]

It means that your router has its own little Web server built in for its configuration interface, and that's already using port 80. You'll have to dig through your router's manual or help screens to see if there is a way to move that to another port or shut it off; otherwise you'll need to choose a different port for serving your own stuff.

 

[wmmk]

It means that your router has its own little Web server built in for its configuration interface, and that's already using port 80. You'll have to dig through your router's manual or help screens to see if there is a way to move that to another port or shut it off; otherwise you'll need to choose a different port for serving your own stuff.

how do i get apache to know to use a port other than 80?
also, besides having my cpu always on (which it basically is) is there anything weird i have to do? what safety percautions must be taken?
thanks

 

[wmmk]

i just turned on filevault
i will be visiting the apple store today, and i may buy an external to use with carbon copy cloner so that i always have a bootable disk.

then again, now that filevault is on, do i even need a backup of the whole system? can i encrypt the whole system folder? that would be really nice. basically, i want everything encrypted and safe and firewalled before i start serving up pages and emulating iDisk. once this is done, i will make a guide to emulating .mac with nothing but a mac, a router, an internet connection, and a good amount of time to spare.

 

[wmmk]

btw, i bet it'd be even safer to do this on a virtual machine. anybody know of some good free virtualization software for PPC so that i could run yellow hat on a virtual disk inside of OS X s that if anyone managed to break in, they couldn't get to my day to day mac stuff?

with that, i could also boot a certain darwin based OS without worrying about erasing my actual hd. anyway, just a thought.

 

[jsw]

A couple of quick comments (more later on tonight if I have time and remember, but feel free to PM and I'll reply by tomorrow night):

(1) FileVault is evil incarnate. Well, not literally, but if anything gets corrupted, your whole home directory is gone. Forever. Period. FV puts everything into one big encrypted file, and it's very risky. Not only that, but I don't think it provides much if any protection if you're logged in (could be wrong). it is much better to create encrypted disk images for sensitive files (Applications->Utilities->Disk Utility, ask if you need help).

(2) It's somewhat easy to change ports on Apache. Very easy once you've done it before. I personally would recommend going to Apache and downloading and installing Apache 2.2.0. The instructions there are pretty good, but ask if you have problems. You'll then have built and installed your own version of Apache, which will fill your soul with geek mojo. You'll then feel more empowered to screw with it. And... there is a lot you can do. Change or add ports to listen on. Add support for SSL. Link to external folders. All kinds of stuff.

(3) If you set up Apache to listen on a port other than 80, odds are you'll be a lot safer from hacks because most script kiddies go for port 80. Also, Apache HHTP Server is reasonable secure anyway, and it's pretty simple to lock it down. I don't think you need a virtual machine, although of course it wouldn't hurt - but it'd suck away CPU and RAM.

 

[wmmk]

when i try to make a new disk image, i am told resources ae busy. hmmmm........

 

[jsw]

I would seriously consider disabling FileVault. Either that, or back up obsessively.

 

[wmmk]

I would seriously consider disabling FileVault. Either that, or back up obsessively.

ok. how do i make a disk image that can get smaller and bigger depending what's in it. do my my files even need to be encrypted anymore than they would if i didn't serve webpages? thanks a billion!

isnt that just a sparse image? when i tried making a sparse, it wasn't expandable. rats.

and is there anywhere i can get a binary of apache? i hate compiling stuff from source.

sorry to keep editing my post, but is there a free alternative to iTools ?
that's all i would need.

sorry, new update! port 8080 is forwarded and the url legacysystems.servehttp.com should bring up what is being served, but i cant get apache to serve to 8080 instead of 80. how do i do this?

yet another update: the dynamic dns thing seems to be working, it's just not hooked up with apache right.

 

[wmmk]

ok, apache 2 is running on port 8080 and 8080 is forwarded. the no-ip update client is running. locally, the site is up. when i go to legacysystems.servehttp.com, nothing shows up. i think this is a no-ip problem. anybody know of a good free dynamic dns service thats easy to use and setup and have a daemon updater?

thanks to all, especially jsw

 

[jsw]

...anybody know of a good free dynamic dns service thats easy to use and setup and have a daemon updater?

thanks to all, especially jsw

DynDNS.org. Good stuff.

And no problem - I was glad to help. I should save those PMs in case anyone else asks!

BTW, you did set your router to forward port 8080 to your Mac, and you did open up port 8080 in your Macs firewall, right?

 

[demallien]

sorry, new update! port 8080 is forwarded and the url legacysystems.servehttp.com should bring up what is being served, but i cant get apache to serve to 8080 instead of 80. how do i do this?

yet another update: the dynamic dns thing seems to be working, it's just not hooked up with apache right.

Ummm, I would have thought that it would be a much better solution to get the configuration right on the Belkin. If you server pages on port 8080, it's going to require people to do something special with their browser to access your pages.

I'm guessing that you tried to configure the routing from port 80 on the internal interface of your router, rather than on the public interface. I just can't imagine ANY router being incapable of being configured to accept incoming connections on port 80.

 

[jsw]

Ummm, I would have thought that it would be a much better solution to get the configuration right on the Belkin. If you server pages on port 8080, it's going to require people to do something special with their browser to access your pages.

On the other hand, it'll stop people who just blindly go through IP ranges looking for servers to hack. I think that using a non-standard (i.e., not 80) port is a pretty good idea when on your home system.

 

[demallien]

On the other hand, it'll stop people who just blindly go through IP ranges looking for servers to hack. I think that using a non-standard (i.e., not 80) port is a pretty good idea when on your home system.

Fair point, and now that you remind me, I don't use port 80 for my own personal website project either. I guess it just depends on whether it's a site designed for personal use only, or if you are going to want third-parties (friends/family/strangers) to be able to access the content.