Choose the Servers tab. At the bottom of the box on the right, click +. On the Basic tab, provide a Server Name, set Connect using to Local/Network, ensure the Server Folder matches the local site folder you specified in step 2, and set the Web URL to Click the Advanced. OS X: You need only one tiny command to start a web server from any directory through OS X's terminal. If you've got a web site lying around and need to test it out, this is possibly the fastest. At this point try stopping and restarting the server manually. Sudo httpd -k stop sudo httpd -k restart Look also into the Console.app log and filter to see what information you can get from there. If it is enabled you should get the following on pointing to localhost within a browser. So far so good, the server. I've been developing web apps for several months now on my mac using the built in apache server and everything has been fine. I restarted my mac this morning and now when I try to connect to anything on localhost I get the error: 'Could not connect to localhost'. Here are some things I have already checked: Apache is running.

Localhost Web Server
Iis Server Localhost

25 20 likes 19,446 views Last modified Oct 9, 2019 6:12 PM

Here is my definitive guide to getting a local web server running on OS X 10.15 “Catalina”. This is meant to be a development platform so that you can build and test your sites locally, then deploy to an internet server. This User Tip only contains instructions for configuring the Apache server, PHP module, and Perl module. I have another User Tip for installing and configuring MySQL and email servers.

Note: This user tip is specific to macOS 10.15 “Catalina”. Pay attention to your OS version. There have been significant changes since earlier versions of macOS.Another note: These instructions apply to the client versions of OS X, not Server. Server does a few specific tricks really well and is a good choice for those. For things like database, web, and mail services, I have found it easier to just setup the client OS version manually.

Requirements:

Basic understanding of Terminal.app and how to run command-line programs.
Basic understanding of web servers.
Basic usage of vi. You can substitute nano if you want.

Optional: Xcode is required for adding PHP modules.

Lines in bold are what you will have to type in. Lines in bold courier should be typed at the Terminal.Replace <your short user name> with your short user name.

Here goes... Enjoy!

To get started, edit the Apache configuration file as root:

sudo vi /etc/apache2/httpd.conf

Enable PHP by uncommenting line 186, changing:

#LoadModule php7_module libexec/apache2/libphp7.so

LoadModule php7_module libexec/apache2/libphp7.so

(If you aren't familiar with vi, go to line 186 by typing '186G' (without the quotes). Then just press 'x' over the '#' character to delete it. Then type ':w!' to save, or just 'ZZ' to save and quit. Don't do that yet though. More changes are still needed.)

If you want to run Perl scripts, you will have to do something similar:

Enable Perl by uncommenting line 187, changing:

#LoadModule perl_module libexec/apache2/mod_perl.so

LoadModule perl_module libexec/apache2/mod_perl.so

Enable personal websites by uncommenting the following at line 183:

#LoadModule userdir_module libexec/apache2/mod_userdir.so

LoadModule userdir_module libexec/apache2/mod_userdir.so

and do the same at line 520:

#Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-userdir.conf

Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-userdir.conf

Now save and quit.

Open the file you just enabled above with:

sudo vi /etc/apache2/extra/httpd-userdir.conf

Localhost Web Server

and uncomment the following at line 16:

Iis Server Localhost

#Include /private/etc/apache2/users/*.conf

Include /private/etc/apache2/users/*.conf

Save and exit.

Lion and later versions no longer create personal web sites by default. If you already had a Sites folder in Snow Leopard, it should still be there. To create one manually, enter the following:

mkdir ~/Sites

echo '<html><body><h1>My site works</h1></body></html>' > ~/Sites/index.html.en

While you are in /etc/apache2, double-check to make sure you have a user config file. It should exist at the path: /etc/apache2/users/<your short user name>.conf.

That file may not exist and if you upgrade from an older version, you may still not have it. It does appear to be created when you create a new user. If that file doesn't exist, you will need to create it with:

sudo vi /etc/apache2/users/<your short user name>.conf

Use the following as the content:

<Directory '/Users/<your short user name>/Sites/'>

AddLanguage en .en

AddHandler perl-script .pl

PerlHandler ModPerl::Registry

Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks ExecCGI

AllowOverride None

Require host localhost

</Directory>

Now you are ready to turn on Apache itself. But first, do a sanity check. Sometimes copying and pasting from an internet forum can insert invisible, invalid characters into config files. Check your configuration by running the following command in the Terminal:

apachectl configtest

If this command returns 'Syntax OK' then you are ready to go. It may also print a warning saying 'httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name'. You could fix this by setting the ServerName directive in /etc/apache2/httpd.conf and adding a matching entry into /etc/hosts. But for a development server, you don't need to do anything. You can just ignore that warning. You can safely ignore other warnings too.

Turn on the Apache httpd service by running the following command in the Terminal:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist

In Safari, navigate to your web site with the following address:

It should say:

It works!

Now try your user home directory:

http://localhost/~<your short user name>

It should say:

My site works

Now try PHP. Create a PHP info file with:

echo '<?php echo phpinfo(); ?>' > ~/Sites/info.php

And test it by entering the following into Safari's address bar:

http://localhost/~<your short user name>/info.php

You should see your PHP configuration information.

To test Perl, try something similar. Create a Perl test file with:

echo 'print $ENV{MOD_PERL} . qq{n};' > ~/Sites/info.pl

And test it by entering the following into Safari's address bar:

http://localhost/~<your short user name>/info.pl

You should see the string 'mod_perl/2.0.9'.

If you want to setup MySQL, see my User Tip on Installing MySQL.

If you want to add modules to PHP, I suggest the following site. I can't explain it any better.

If you want to make further changes to your Apache system or user config files, you will need to restart the Apache server with:

sudo apachectl graceful

When you (or your computer) call an IP address, you are usually trying to contact another computer on the internet. However, if you call the IP address 127.0.0.1

Localhost Server For Mac