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byteknacker/_webserver.md

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Created October 23, 2018 09:17
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a simple guide for getting a local web server set up
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_webserver.md

Do I have a web server running?

having a web server turned on doesn't necessarily mean you are serving pages on the world wide web. its what allows you to load your own static files (.html, .js etc.) in a browser via http://.

if you're not sure whether or not you have a web server running, no problem! its easy to confirm.

what happens when you visit http://localhost/?

if you're looking at a webpage, great!
you're done.

What if i don't?

Windows

the most popular web server software for microsoft computers is IIS. if its not already running, you can follow the instructions below to get things set up.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181052(v=vs.80).aspx

iis screenshot

afterward, save a .html file in C:/inetpub/wwwroot and try to access it via http://localhost/[myfile].html. if the page is served up, you're ready to roll.

Mac

Apache comes preinstalled on Apple computers. If its not running, you can follow the instructions below to get it turned on.

http://osxdaily.com/2012/09/02/start-apache-web-server-mac-os-x/

afterward, save a .html file in ~/Users/[yourlogin]/Sites/ and try to access it via http://localhost/~[yourlogin]/myfile.html. if you can view the content, all is well.

🎵 interlude 🎵

What if I'd rather use something else?

you don't need a why, but here are a couple:

  • you don't have admin priviledges on the computer
  • you think Apache .conf files are scary, and editing text in VIM is even more frightening
  • you want something lightweight

SimpleHTTPServer (a Pythonic approach)

Python comes preinstalled on Macs (and is installed on Windows with ArcGIS Software) so it's SimpleHTTPServer module is an excellent choice.

  1. navigate into the folder where you plan on saving your .html files (using terminal/cmd) and execute the following command:

    python -m SimpleHTTPServer 1337

    if you're using Python 3.x or higher, you'd use

    python -m http.server 1337

  2. now you should be able to access your own files via http://localhost:1337/myfile.html in Chrome, Firefox or any other web browser.

<html>
  <body>
    <h1>i'm web serving!</h1>
  </body>
</html>

hello world

http-server (for Node)

Node.js gets more popular by the day, so if you already have it installed (or don't mind taking two minutes to do it now) the npm module http-server is a really good choice too.

using http-server

  1. if you haven't already installed Node.js, visit the site below and lay it down

https://nodejs.org/en/download/

  1. next, open terminal or cmd and install the http-server module globally on your machine
npm install http-server -g
  1. run it using CLI (specifying the folder you'd like to serve files from)
http-server ./[yourfolder] -p 1337
  1. now you should be able to access your files (via something like http://localhost:1337/myfile.html) in a web browser.

thats it!

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