Simplify Local Development with MAMP & DNSMASQ (& XIP.io)

MAMP_Dynamic_Virtual_Hosts.md

Simplify Local Development with MAMP & DNSMASQ

When you sit down and start a new project, often times, you'll want to set up a virtual host, a spoof domain that will emulate a live environment. The effort is usually two parts: set up a domain in /etc/hosts, and then add a <VirtualHost> entry in /Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/httpd.conf to make your files accessible.

This tutorial is setting up a 'zero-configuration' development environment. We'll be setting up a spoof domain ending in .dev. In MAMP, we'll create a folder called dev. Any folder inside, the name will become the domain.

Instructions

1. ####Install homebrew
   Follow the instructions available on the homepage or just copy and paste this snippet into terminal:

   $ /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(/usr/bin/curl -fksSL https://raw.github.com/mxcl/homebrew/master/Library/Contributions/install_homebrew.rb)"

2. ####Install dnsmasq

   $ brew install dnsmasq

3. ####Setup dnsmasq

   $ mkdir -pv $(brew --prefix)/etc/
   $ echo 'address=/.dev/127.0.0.1' > $(brew --prefix)/etc/dnsmasq.conf
   $ sudo cp -v $(brew --prefix dnsmasq)/homebrew.mxcl.dnsmasq.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons
   $ sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.dnsmasq.plist
   $ sudo mkdir -v /etc/resolver
   $ sudo bash -c 'echo "nameserver 127.0.0.1" > /etc/resolver/dev'

4. ####Verify new nameserver
   Run $ scutil --dns to show all of your current resolvers, and you should see that all requests for a domain ending in .dev will go to the DNS server at 127.0.0.1:

   resolver #9
     domain   : dev
     nameserver[0] : 127.0.0.1

   If you ping any domain that ends in .dev, you'll get the IP address 127.0.0.1 back as a result:

   $ ping -c 1 thereisnowaythisisarealdomain.dev
   PING thereisnowaythisisarealdomain.dev (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
   64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.057 ms

   Note: you may need to reboot before the /etc/resolver settings take effect globally.

5. Add Dynamic Virtual Hosts to your Apache configuration

   Open up /Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/httpd.conf in a text editor, scroll down, and add the following lines to the file.

   NameVirtualHost *
   
   <VirtualHost *>
       # Apache will form URLs using the hostname supplied by the client
       UseCanonicalName Off
   
       # available aliases to use
       ServerAlias *.dev
   
       VirtualDocumentRoot /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/%2/%1
   </VirtualHost>

6. Add additional domains

   For every additional domain you want to server locally, add the following entry to /usr/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf:

   address=/.domain/127.0.0.1

   Now let your OS know that you want to redirect requests to this domain to your local dnsmasq nameserver. Do this by creating a file domain in /etc/resolver.

   /etc/resolver/domain has the following content:

   nameserver 127.0.0.1

   More info about resolver

   The Apache configuration will also need to be modified. In the recent <VirtualHost> entry, update ServerAlias with the new domain

   ServerAlias *.dev *.domain

   Note: you may need to reboot before the /etc/resolver settings take effect globally.

7. Testing it all works

   $ mkdir -p /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/dev/example
   $ echo "example.dev" > /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/dev/example/index.html

   Now visit http://example.dev/ in your web browser. Hopefully you should see example.dev – if so congratulations; you’re going to save so much time in the future now.

8. Apache Bug

   Because apache's VirtualDocumentRoot does not set DOCUMENT_ROOT correctly (its a bug thats been discussed for long time), you need to do the following in your PHP code if you use DOCUMENT_ROOT:

   Add the following line below the VirtualDocumentRoot vhost definition:

   $ php_admin_value auto_prepend_file /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/setdocroot.php

   Then, create the referenced PHP file and add two lines:

   <?php
   $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] = str_replace($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'],"",$_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']);

   Now, every page load has this file executed, which properly sets DOCUMENT_ROOT.

9. Accessing MAMP sites from local devices, phones, tablets.

   So you’re developing an awesome site locally at a custom domain, like customerxyz.dev. So how can you access or share your site across a network, including mobile and tablets?

   The best trick I learned with MAMP is using XIP.io. What XIP.io does is basically forward the domain with the IP and then it directs the device properly to the site you want on your machine.

   For example, say your machine’s IP is 192.168.0.15 – and the domain customerx.dev – you would whip out your smart phone and enter customerx.192.168.0.15.xip.io

   The Apache configuration will again need to be modified. In the recent <VirtualHost> entry, add a new ServerAlias with the xip.io extension. To help with working on a network with a dynamic IP or working on multiple networks (work vs home), we'll replace the IP with a wildcard '*'.

   ServerAlias *.xip.io