Problem with Web Sharing and Web Sharing Name

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Problem with Web Sharing and Web Sharing Name

I am having difficulty getting web sharing to work...

In the System Preferences Web Sharing tab it says web sharing is on, but says my computer's website is "http://iPod-3.home/"

1. If I click on this link I get an "Unable to connect" web page. Any ideas how to get this working?
2. It seems a very strange name for my computer which is a MacBook Pro. Is there anywhere I can change this to a more sensible name?

Hope someone can help!

Bill

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Jul 11, 2009 10:22 AM

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Answer 1

xnav

Level 5

7,113 points

Jul 11, 2009 12:51 PM in response to vardas

What's the output of this Terminal command?

dig iPod-3.home

Also, what is your IP address in SystemPreferences>Network?

Message was edited by: xnav

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Answer 2

vardas Author

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Jul 12, 2009 1:19 AM in response to xnav

I go the following output from the dig command:

; <<>> DiG 9.4.3-P1 <<>> iPod-3.home
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 19229
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;iPod-3.home. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
iPod-3.home. 0 IN A 192.168.1.78

;; Query time: 8 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.1.254#53(192.168.1.254)
;; WHEN: Sun Jul 12 09:16:52 2009
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 45

My ip address is 192.168.1.78

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Answer 3

xnav

Level 5

7,113 points

Jul 12, 2009 7:45 AM in response to vardas

This means that the name server at 192.168.1.254 on your local net has your IP (192.168.1.78) associated with the name iPod-3.home. Talk to whoever administers your name server to change it.

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Answer 4

xnav

Level 5

7,113 points

Jul 12, 2009 8:04 AM in response to vardas

What happens if you go to this URL after turning on Net sharing?

http://192.168.1.78/

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Answer 5

vardas Author

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Jul 12, 2009 11:57 AM in response to xnav

I am the administrator for my network! I have managed to change the name to something more sensible but I am still not able to get the web serving to work. If I try to go to http://192.168.1.78/ I get a web page with the following message:

"Safari can’t open the page “ http://192.168.1.78/” because Safari can’t connect to the server “192.168.1.78""

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Answer 6

vardas Author

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Jul 12, 2009 12:06 PM in response to xnav

Just a thought.....but is it possible that my broadband router is preventing the web sharing from working due to some kind of security setting?

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Answer 7

xnav

Level 5

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Jul 12, 2009 12:11 PM in response to vardas

I don't think so at this point, particularly if you are trying the URL from the same Mac that you are turning sharing on. My guess is that you will find error messages in Applications>Utilities>Console associated with the start of Net sharing or the actual attempt to access the URL. The messages will be under 'apache2'.

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Answer 8

vardas Author

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Jul 12, 2009 2:13 PM in response to xnav

I am not sure exactly what I should be looking for but I did find the following in my Console:

01/01/2001 00:05:16 org.apache.httpd[137] Unable to open logs
01/01/2001 00:05:16 com.apple.launchd[1] (org.apache.httpd[137]) Exited with exit code: 1
01/01/2001 00:05:16 com.apple.launchd[1] (org.apache.httpd) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
01/01/2001 00:05:26 org.apache.httpd[138] (2)No such file or directory: httpd: could not open error log file /private/var/log/apache2/error_log.

Does any of that make any sense?

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Answer 9

Barney-15E

Level 10

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Jul 12, 2009 2:21 PM in response to vardas

Yes, it does make sense. There is something wrong with your configuration that is preventing Apache from starting. Open Terminal and type this command:

apachectl configtest

It will tell you what is wrong with the config files.

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Answer 10

xnav

Level 5

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Jul 12, 2009 3:36 PM in response to vardas

Looks like a permissions issue. Are you working from an admin account? /private/var/log/apache2/ is the correct location for the logs. Have you ever tried a manual installation of Apache, if so, this may have damaged Apple's default install.

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Answer 11

xnav

Level 5

7,113 points

Jul 12, 2009 4:12 PM in response to vardas

Check several solutions in this [thread|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6502626].
Especially the mkdir.
Message was edited by: xnav

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Answer 12

vardas Author

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Jul 13, 2009 12:07 AM in response to Barney-15E

The result I get from entering the command apachectl configtest is "Syntax ok"

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Answer 13

vardas Author

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Jul 13, 2009 12:09 AM in response to xnav

Yes I am working from an admin account. I think I may have manually installed Apache in the past.

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Answer 14

vardas Author

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Jul 13, 2009 12:17 AM in response to xnav

I tried the solutions in the thread you suggested but still no luck. Although a lot of what was being talked about was a bit over my head so it is possible I didn't try everything correctly!

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Answer 15

xnav

Level 5

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Jul 13, 2009 7:39 AM in response to vardas

Do you have a /private/var/log/apache2/ folder?

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