How can I make my Ubuntu server accessible to the internet?

Question

I already installed applications to make my server web server. when I type the DHCP released ip address in the web browser, i can access it but all it says is "it works....etc". I can copy files to /var/www successfuly using WINSCP but yet, i can not see any files when I connect to it using my windows machine in the browser. Secondly , I tried to forward port on my home SMC router, it only accepts local lan ip which my ubuntu server picks up internet ip from router...what should i do ? can you help please ????

Thanks,

Answer 1

The "It works" message comes from the default index.html in the /var/www directory. You have to edit the html file to create links to the additional files you copied from windows. Or type the exact name of the html file in the browser.

Answer 2

It is best to have servers on fixed (static) IP-addresses rather than on dynamically assigned IP-addresses which might change from one day to the next. You can use your router control panel to limit the range of addresses it hands out for DHCP and use an IP-address outside that range for your server.

For example, if your router is at 192.168.1.254 and it hands out DHCP addresses from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.100, you could use 192.168.1.200 as a fixed address for your server.

Otherwise you can use specify a dynamically assigned IP-address in the forwarding rule. It might stop working one day but will be OK for a while. ifconfig -a will show you your server's current LAN IP-address.

I suggest, if you have not already done so, you read up about the security implications of making your home server accessible to botnets.