Richard Kimber wrote:

> I run apache2 on my home network. I don't want apache2 to accept requests
> from outside this network. However, not all the machines in the network
> are switched on at any given moment.
>
> I have Listen 127.0.0.1:80, which is fine for the machine that runs
> apache2, but if I add the address of a machine that is not actually on,
> apache2 won't start.
>
> How do I configure apache2 so that, other machines will be listened to,
> when
> switched on, without my having to reconfigure and restart each time? Or
> am I misunderstanding what's involved?

You do not need to reconfigure Apache2. What you need is for the other
machines in your network to know how to address the server.

127.0.0.1 is always the localhost, meaning the machine on which you are
running. On the machine running your Apache2 server, you can access the
server through that IP address. But on one of your other machines,
127.0.0.1 refers to THAT machine, not the one running the Apache2 server.

You need to know the IP address on your LAN for the Apache2 server. If it
happens to be 192.168.1.4, for example, then you could use this IP address
to access the server from any machine on your LAN (including the server
itself).

If you are using DHCP to get dynamic IP addresses, of course, then the IP
address of the server could/will change each time you restart the network
on that machine. On my network, I assign a static IP address on the
machine running the server (one within the subnet, but excluded from the
DHCP server's range), and then use the hostnames file (see YaST->Network
Services->Hostnames) to associate a *Name* with that IP address. It's sort
of like running a poor man's DNS.

HTH

--
Larry Bristol --- The Double Luck
http://www.doubleluck.com