Cannot access install on local serveraccross local network.

I have been building my first Zencart site on my local computer with local host access. I decided to move install onto the Windows Server running Server 2012 Essentials. So others could assist with the data input and so I also could connect and work from home.

At first I could not access Zencart using http://localhost/<zencart folder>/<admin folder> until I noticed that port 80 is not not where XAMPP was running. I have to enter http://localhost:553/<zencart folder>/<admin folder>. When I do I can access zencart locally on the server both front and back ends.

Zen cart shows the local IP as 127.0.0.1 and IPCONFIG says IPv4 Address is 192.168.1.116. No address combination I have tried in the webbrowser will connect a local machine to Zencart across the network.

I have shared htdocs folder and even mapped it as a drive and tired to connect using XAMPP on local machine. I removedfile security from connfigure.php files.

Do I need to get someone in here to reconfigure the server so that port 80 is available for Apache?

Any and all suggestion are welcome.

:frusty:

Running on a local PC for testing and maybe template-design and experimenting with colors or product configurations ... is fine.
But taking that site "live" by putting it on a server requires a proper server environment.

If you're going to run a webserver internally, then you need to get someone to set up your network so that all your computers know how to talk to and identify one another ... and operate on a port that's easily understood.

• You need to set a name for the server, and tell all the others what that name is. "localhost" always accesses "myself", so only the server itself can use "localhost" to talk to the websites on it; everyone else needs a proper name mapped to a proper IP address.
• You need to configure Apache to operate on port 80 so that "http://" requests will be properly understood ("http://" has always mapped directly to port 80).
• And more ...

But really, if you're going to run a website, especially an online store which processes payments, you should be hosting it on a server which is properly secured and managed and connected to a reliable speedy internet connection. That also has the side-benefit of allowing both you and your staff to do data-entry from anywhere ... and frees you up from needing to get networking specialists into your office ... and frankly, you want someone who has solid daily experience with webservers to be securing and configuring your webserver, not some casual PC fixit outfit ... else you'll be paying them to come in and clean up the messes left by hackers after they break through your unsecured server setup.

First thank you for the reply.

The purpose of placing this on the inhouse server is only for development and testing.Plus I want two of us entering products. The Windows server and all the users stations function just fine when accessing programs. We have no intention of taking the site live operational on our local server. When I am happy with the site appearance and function I will then move it to a live hosting service.

I was concerned that the Port 80 being used by something else on the windows server may be the issue. Therefore my next step is to find out what is using Port 80 and how to move it to another port. Then I will try accessing Zencart directly as localhost on the server without the port redirect. Thank you for the information about http:// always going to port 80 I did not know this. There is a lot I do not know.

I will most likely be looking for someone to make some custom code changes for appearance and/or functions that I want during the site development. Do you know of any place I can post requests for Zen-Cart modifications?

One area is in the forum listing (http://www.zen-cart.com/forum.php) specifically: http://www.zen-cart.com/forumdisplay.php?162-Find-Experienced-Zen-Cart-Contractors I'm sure there are other venues as well... http://www.zen-cart.com/helpwanted (Link adjacent to the forum listing for finding experienced Zen Cart Contractors...)

Otherwise, there is word of mouth or individual requests (PM or visiting their website) to those that seem to do that type of thing.

The link for where to find some Zen-Cart paid assistance was great.

Had windows network tech out and the windows webhosting junk was removed from server 2012. Now we can access local server ZenCart install across the local network. We will continue with the site development. I do not want to do the development on the live site over the internet access, as we use a satellite internet connection and the delay drive us insane. It is fine for upload download but doing more than simple work is crazy.

Now I need to learn how to upload the local site to the live host site when it is working correctly. Can you point me to instructions on how to do automate this procedure.

Couple of things may lead to the right method, but as far as automation, not so sure that there is an instruction to provide "automation" of the transfer.

In a way doing an upgrade of the site, though it will be on a different server, so that's where caution should be taken in doing this as you may find yourself trying to track down a problem related to operation when it was the upgrade that caused the issue, or a file didn't get fully transferre, etc... The typical suggested upgrade instructions would be: http://www.zen-cart.com/entry.php?3-How-do-I-rebuild-my-site-on-the-new-version-instead-of-upgrading

Then there is instruction here for moving servers:
http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?142-i-want-to-move-my-zen-cart-installation-to-another-host-or-a-different-server

One thing that has been improved upon is that if you create includes/local/configure.php file and admin/includes/local/configure.php file and not have a version of those in the includes/ and admin/includes folders, then when transferring files if you omit the local directories, the old files are overwritten with the new but the configure.php files are untouched. :)

There are several other aspects to consider, but that may be a start. Glad your other issues got fixed. Congrats!