Hosting on Port 80

Most computers already have a built-in Web server running on port 80, and it's difficult to disable these, so the preferred solution is to run CL-HTTP on another port. The traditional port to use is port 8000.

You will export URLs on port 8000, with a call such as:

(export-url "http://www.mydomain.com:8000/demo.html"
            :computed
            :response-function 'write-demo-page)

The outside world can then connect to your server using URLs such as:

http://www.mydomain.com:8000/demo.html

If you prefer to have your site on port 80 as far as the outside world is concerned the best solution is to run CL-HTTP on port 8000, but redirect port 80 to port 8000. You will then export URLs on port 80:

(export-url "http://www.mydomain.com/demo.html"
            :computed
            :response-function 'write-demo-page)

The outside world can then connect to your server using URLs such as:

http://www.mydomain.com/demo.html

You can do the redirection using one of the following two solutions:

Using an external router

Use an external router to map incoming/outgoing traffic on port 80 to the Mac on port 8000.

Using the built-in firewall

The Mac has a built-in firewall (ipfw) which can redirect ports directly.

A shareware control-panel called WaterRoof is available for the Mac that will allow you to do the necessary configuration without editing configuration files:

http://www.hanynet.com/waterroof/

Use it as follows:

  • Click NAT Setup.
  • Enter the redirection:

NAT.png

  • Save the configuration
  • Click Enable NAT auto start.

blog comments powered by Disqus