How to set up a HFS (HTTP File Server) on a Mac?

[Sirnot1]

Hi guys, for the past few hours I've been trying to figure out how to set up a HFS on a mac, using the built-in Apache software. On my Windows PC I have been using this http://www.rejetto.com/hfs/ which is incredibly easy to use, but now I would like to set up a HFS server on my old iMac G3. How can I do this? It is currently running Mac OS X 10.2.8.

 

[Sirnot1]

Anybody? All I need is a page in which it shows the directory of where the web server's files are, along with a linking to such files.

 

[t0n3s]

Well, I can point you in that direction at least.

You need to make your Library folder visible, in Terminal you can use:

chflags nohidden ~/Library/

Then you can navigate to the Library/WebServer/ directory.

Edit.

Just tinkered with it, you can access it the easy way through System Preferences apparently.

System Preferences > Sharing > Web Sharing > Open Computer Website Folder

 

[Sirnot1]

Thanks, but that isn't really what I need. I already know how to get to the WebServer folder, what I am trying to do is to have on my web server site a page which has adirectory which shows all the files, folders, etc, on the server. You know, like how it looks like when you are browsing a FTP server on a web browser? Like that, that is all.

 

[t0n3s]

Oh, if that's the case the address of a website should act as a directory listing if no default index page exists in that directory.

 

[Sirnot1]

I'll check now to see if it works.

Edit: After adding some test files and folders to the site folder, when trying to access it from Google Chrome the error "Oops! Google Chrome could not find customers-computer.local" comes up. When the default index.html webpage is inside the folder (the one that has the Mac OSX sign) it works fine and opens up that html.

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Actually, now it works! It doesn't seem to work with my user's personal webpage (ie http://xxx.xxx.xxx/~sirnot) but it does work with the general site (http://xxx.xxx.xxx). Thanks!

 

[t0n3s]

No problem-o, although you may want to look further into that. There's a few options you can change for this. Directory listing is normally controlled by the .htaccess file. You can disable directories if no index is found, which is what you experienced, so you may need to change the settings. You can also change the style to which is displays the information.

This is what you more than likely need for your task.

Options +Indexes
# or #
IndexIgnore *
IndexOptions +FancyIndexing

 

[Sirnot1]

Thanks, i'll defiantly look at that. One more thing that I need clearing is if it is possible to move the WebServer folder to an external hard drive? I'm using the mac as a http server for simple streaming of photos and videos to my PC and Android tablet, but the internal hard drive in my iMac is only 14 gigabytes . So I am going to buy a external 500 gig drive to connect to my mac and host the files there, but I am not sure if I can move the site folder the the external drive and if the server will still work. I would like to be sure before I go out and actually buy the drive.

 

[t0n3s]

If you use the sudo nano (or have access to all hidden files you can locate your conf here) /etc/apache2/users/USERNAME.conf

Mine had the following:

<Directory "/Users/USERNAME/Sites/">
Options Indexes MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

And yes, you can use a network location for your files. You will need to give permission to Apache first to access the network drives, then change the locations in the httpd.conf file to reflect the location.

 

[Sirnot1]

Ok, thanks! I think I got it all under control now, all I have left is to figure out how to get my PC and tablet to stream the files instead of automatically downloading them .

 

[t0n3s]

No problem, best of luck with the rest!