After installing the Apache web server, start making your website live to access it from the whole web rather than just your home network. Here’s how to make it live on the web!
Making your website Live: Option 1
We recommend installing Cloudflared and setting up a “Tunnel” which is free, easy and secure.
The Tunnel is exactly that, it creates a secure tunnel between your Linux computer and Cloudflare. You can buy domain names (e.g. yourname.com) from Cloudflare directly or from any provider you want and then direct them to your Linux computer through the tunnel you set up with Cloudflare
Here’s how to make it live with Cloudflared: Set up a Tunnel
Making your website Live: Option 2
The other option is to do it the traditional way which involves opening ports on your home internet router so that visitors use the port you opened to access your local network, get directed to your Linux computer (the web server) and shown your website.
However, this is as dangerous as it sounds because you’re essentially opening a “hole” to your home (local network) from the world (public network). Hackers could get in if it’s not set up properly, thereby accessing all your devices, phones, smart home equipment, etc.
The other problem is that it’s unlikely your internet service provider allows you to use your home internet this way and it’s likely it would break the terms of service you agreed to.
Also, there’s the issue of practicality. It’s likely you’ll have a dynamic public IP address on your internet at home which means it’s constantly changing. If you’re planning to set up a web server at home and want to connect a domain name to it (e.g. yourname.com), the domain will have to “point” to your Linux computers public IP address but as soon as it changes, your website will disappear from public view.
Therefore the following guide for the traditional method of making a web server live is not recommended for domestic application and assumes you’re setting up a web server with a provider such as Ionos, Namecheap, Hostinger, etc. or ihttp://192.168.1.1n a secure commercial environment by knowledgeable personnel using this guide only as a reference.
1. Open port 80
You need to open port 80 on your router, you can find out how to do this for various routers here: https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/how-to-open-ports-on-router/
If you’re wondering where to find your routers settings, try going to http://192.168.1.1 on your web browser first.
2. Test the connection
That’s it! Now your website should be live.
We can test your website by visiting your external IP address (we can link a name like yoursite.com to it later)
Open your terminal (Konsole) and type:
curl -4 icanhazip.comThe result will be your external IP Address.
Now we only need to use this in your web browser to access your Linux computer (web server) from the internet, so just enter and go to your external IP address in your web browser
If it worked you should see a page like this:
If you want to find out how to change this into your own website, read our article: Your First Website
