[RobertMidd]

I have never used my localhost on my Mac and I know want to setup a local website but I do not want to access this by having to type 127.0.0.1 or localhost in the brower address bar, but something like www.robertmidd.com

When I did this last time, I was using a PC and simply edited the hosts file, rebooted and hey presto it works ... I have tried this on my Mac but it does not work.

What have I done wrong, is there an easier way ?

Thanks in advance.

[dziner]

RobertMidd, on Nov 22 2008, 04:20 PM, said:

I have never used my localhost on my Mac and I know want to setup a local website but I do not want to access this by having to type 127.0.0.1 or localhost in the brower address bar, but something like www.robertmidd.com

When I did this last time, I was using a PC and simply edited the hosts file, rebooted and hey presto it works ... I have tried this on my Mac but it does not work.

What have I done wrong, is there an easier way ?

Thanks in advance.

Use MAMP, once you install the program and launch it you should be able to run any websites, php, etc. Good luck. MAMP is free.

[RobertMidd]

dziner, on Nov 22 2008, 05:40 PM, said:

Use MAMP, once you install the program and launch it you should be able to run any websites, php, etc. Good luck. MAMP is free.

I am using MAMP but I still have to use localhost to serve the webpages off my local server and I want www.robertmidd.com to work.

[Cybertimber2009]

Well, you'd have to own the domain, then you'd have to have the domain company forward requests to your internet IP address (which typically changes frequently, so I recommend no-ip.com which can deal with that) and then on your router, forward port 80 requests to your computer. THEN you can use a domain name, and you can use it anywhere even your computer.

But (from my personal knowledge) there is no way to shortcut all of that unless you have DNS server right on that computer, and that might cause issues in looking up domains outside of your computer.

[Stephen]

No he wouldn’t, if you read you'd see he said he does it on the PC by editing the hosts file so he doesn't actually want it to be real, just local.

Try something like this

sudo dscl localhost -create /Local/Default/Hosts/www.robertmidd.com IPAddress 127.0.0.1
dscl localhost -readall /Local/Default/Hosts

[Ian]

Assuming your server is all setup correctly to listen for www.robertmidd.com you should be able to add it to your /etc/hosts file. If you have TextMate run:

mate /etc/hosts

Add the line:

127.0.0.1 www.robertmidd.com

and that should make the domain direct to your local server.

Ian

[Stephen]

I seem to remember reading that Leopard doesn't obey /etc/hosts hence the dscl command, but I could be wrong.

[RobertMidd]

Stephen, on Nov 23 2008, 12:27 AM, said:

No he wouldn't, if you read you'd see he said he does it on the PC by editing the hosts file so he doesn't actually want it to be real, just local.

Try something like this

sudo dscl localhost -create /Local/Default/Hosts/www.robertmidd.com IPAddress 127.0.0.1
 dscl localhost -readall /Local/Default/Hosts

Thanks so much Stephen, it worked a treat.

[RobertMidd]

Stephen, on Nov 23 2008, 01:04 AM, said:

I seem to remember reading that Leopard doesn't obey /etc/hosts hence the dscl command, but I could be wrong.

I think you are right as I tried this and it did not work.

[Ian]

Stephen, on Nov 23 2008, 12:04 AM, said:

I seem to remember reading that Leopard doesn't obey /etc/hosts hence the dscl command, but I could be wrong.

Don't know, it works for me but I use it for single word domains not www.etc.com domains, so I can't say for sure on that.

Ian