[wplug] Serving Apps to Self

[Bill Moran]

In response to Eric Cooper <ecc at cmu.edu>:

> On Mon, Mar 12, 2007 at 09:16:46AM -0500, Tom Fetherston wrote:
> > I've come across a few Linux web based apps that I like to try out (some 
> > e-learning, CRS & CMS things), plus I'd like to play a bit with php.  
> > Most of these things are meant to be served from separate Linux box to a 
> > client PC, (usually running a web browser). 
> > 
> > 
> > Now, I've only one PC running a non-server version of Unbuntu, and my 
> > qestion to the list is how I might let it to "serve itself" so to speak.
> 
> You should be able to just install the web app, and apache (if
> installing the web app package doesn't already pull it in), and then
> use your web browser on http://localhost/...

For security purposes, you can (should) configure Apache to accept connections
_only_ on the loopback adapter -- alternately, you can configure ipchains
(or whatever packet filter Linux is using these days) to control that for
you.

It's sound security practice, but it also gives you a measure of comfort that
if you're unfamiliar with the webapp and set it up very insecurely, it's
still not accessible to the Internet at large.

-- 
Bill Moran
http://www.potentialtech.com