If you have lots of sites to test, you might want to be able to type a url into the browser, and see the site directly. To do that you need to modify your Mac’s hosts file, and set up a Virtual Server.

1 – Preparation

Decide upon the URL you want to use, I’m going for mark-kirby.dev in this example.

Decide where you want the files to go that will appear for this url, and place them there on your computer. I’m using /Users/username/Sites/mark-kirby for this example.

2 – Edit the hosts file

Open the file

[code lang="apache"]/private/etc/hosts[/code]

Since this file is hidden, you will need to need to check the option “open hidden files” if your text editor has one, or use the terminal to open the file directly.

[code lang="apache"]mate /private/etc/hosts[/code]

Alternatively, you could:

1. Open finder
2. click on go
3. select “Go to folder”
4. enter in /private/etc/

You will see the following:

[code lang="apache"]##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting.  Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1    localhost
255.255.255.255    broadcasthost
::1             localhost[/code]

Underneath this, enter your local IP address (127.0.0.1) and the name of the site you want to set up, e.g.

[code lang="apache"]127.0.0.1 mark-kirby.dev[/code]

Save the file – you will have to authenticate – and now when ever you type http://mark-kirby.dev into a browser it will give you your local folders – EVEN if mark-kirby.dev is an actual website on the internet. Browsers always check the hosts file first.

2 – Add the virtual host in apache

If you type mark-kirby.dev into your browser now, you will still see your default folders, you need do some more work.

Open the file

[code lang="apache"]/private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf[/code]

using the methods described above.

You will see this first -

[code lang="apache"]#
# Use name-based virtual hosting.
#
NameVirtualHost *:80[/code]

Don’t touch it!

Then you will see this -

[code lang="apache"]

ServerAdmin webmaster@dummy-host.example.com
DocumentRoot "/www/docs/dummy-host.example.com"
ServerName dummy-host.example.com
ServerAlias www.dummy-host.example.com
ErrorLog "/private/var/log/apache2/dummy-host.example.com-error_log"
CustomLog "/private/var/log/apache2/dummy-host.example.com-access_log" common
[/code]

First I’ll quickly explain what each line means:

• ServerAdmin – the email address of the server admapachestrator e.g. mark-kirby@mark-kirby.dev, this will show up on error pages
• DocumentRoot – the location of the files to show e.g. /User/username/Sites/mark-kirby
• ServerName – the domain name you want to use e.g mark-kirby.dev
• ServerAlias – an alternative name which will point to the same place e.g. www.mark-kirby.dev
• ErrorLog – the location of a log file to output errors to, e.g. “/User/username/Sites/logs/mark-kirby-error-log”
• CustomLog – the location of a file where all other logs should be written, followed by a format – just stick with common – e.g. “/User/username/Sites/logs/mark-kirby-access-log common”

So really, you only need DocumentRoot and ServerName if this is a test server only you will access.

Firstly comment out the examples – very important, don’t miss this step!

Then add a default entry so localhost will still take you to the root of your Sites folder:

[code lang="apache"]
DocumentRoot "/Users/username/Sites"
ServerName localhost
[/code]

Finally, add your entry, e.g.

[code lang="apache"]
DocumentRoot "/Users/username/Sites/mark-kirby"
ServerName mark-kirby.dev
[/code]

Save this, you’ll need to authenticate.

3 – Activate virtual hosts in apache

If you haven’t done so, by default the file you just edited, won’t be enabled in Apache.

To change this open up another hidden file – /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf

Find the line

[code lang="apache"]# Virtual hosts
#Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf[/code]

And uncomment the include so it looks like this:

[code lang="apache"]# Virtual hosts
Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf[/code]

Save the file – you may need to authenticate.

4 – Restart Apache

This still won’t work, until you restart apache.

To restart apache:

1. Go to system preferences
2. Select “sharing”
3. Uncheck the box “Web Sharing” – apache will stop
4. Check it again – apache will start

Test your site – you should be in luck!

5 – Permission problems

If you have any problems with permissions on your new site, you could try Jeremy Keiths solution – he adds a directive to his httpd-vhosts.conf file which allows everything, it looks like this:

[code lang="apache"]

Options Indexes Includes FollowSymLinks SymLinksifOwnerMatch ExecCGI MultiViews
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all

[/code]