how to check if a URL is visible from the public Internet

I often test web applications deployed in machines that are local on site (so I access them behind a firewall). Then (after the network people setup some port forwarding scheme) I invite other people to try them out only to be told that they can't seem to be able to see those URLs.

How to test whether a specific URL is visible / reachable from the public Internet?

I am aware of the existence of sites like this but do they test the actual URL (including context, etc. which will involve testing the actual port forwarding) or just accessibility of the node?

networking

MarcusJuniusBrutus

Posted 2014-12-05T12:31:36.643

Reputation: 399

Can you please give an example URL!? – Werner Henze – 2014-12-05T12:36:08.873

What do you mean with "accessibility of the node"? – Werner Henze – 2014-12-05T12:44:39.697

@WernerHenze I mean weather they really test the entire URL or just check that the host is reachable (e.g. via ping, traceroute, etc) – MarcusJuniusBrutus – 2014-12-05T12:52:23.033

downforeveryoneorjustme.com seems to only check if the host is up, not to check if there is a web service running. – Werner Henze – 2014-12-05T12:55:26.363

Answers

GeoPeeker is a tool for web developers that makes it possible to remotely view a site from different geographic locations. It's great for spotting region-specific content and can be especially helpful when launching a site, as it can be used to ensure that the DNS is propagating properly. GeoPeeker is also pretty handy for troubleshooting CDN and caching issues. The images are rendered using WebKit with a screen width of 1280 pixels.

Ali Pandidan

Posted 2014-12-05T12:31:36.643

Reputation: 174

https://validator.w3.org/checklink is another web application checking URLs, but beware, it might not check every content.

math

Posted 2014-12-05T12:31:36.643

Reputation: 2 376

Since your Web applications are local they have a local reserved IP addresses (corresponding to their URL) which Reserved Local IP Addresses are, by definition, unreachable outside the local area network...

Ref.: Reserved IP Adresses

climenole

Posted 2014-12-05T12:31:36.643

Reputation: 3 180

1The OP has mentioned that port forwarding is set up. – Vinayak – 2014-12-05T13:51:22.170

I prefer using a web proxy to achieve this.

KProxy is a proxy service I've used often to check whether I can access my computer from the web.

I've used it to check whether I've configured port forwarding properly. For instance if you're running a web server on your computer on port 7000 and have set up port forwarding on the service port 8080 you could test if the server is accessible from the web by trying to access this URL from a web proxy:

http://YOUR-EXTERNAL-IP-OR-DYNAMIC-DNS-HOSTNAME:8080/

Additionally, you can also check whether a specific port is open or closed and accessible from the web using a port checking service like CanYouSeeMe.org

Vinayak

Posted 2014-12-05T12:31:36.643

Reputation: 9 310