Setting up and working with Denver on your own - simple solutions in clear words. Accessing Denver from a local network or the Internet Setting up denwer for a local network

This article describes a simple way to open access to installed server Denwer by local network. It is important to remember that the technology is presented in evaluation mode, and in no way encourages readers to use this package as an independent web server. Remember! Opening access to the Denwer web server from the outside creates a number of serious security vulnerabilities operating system!
This information designed primarily for beginners, therefore it is replete with a large number of screenshots and detailed description actions that may seem completely unnecessary to the average user. Please be understanding.
And so, our task is to open access to the Denver web server from the local network. The primary task is to find out the IP address of a computer on the local network. It is assumed that the system is pre-configured network settings with a static IP address. If the IP address is known, you can immediately go to paragraph 7 of this article.
1. Click Start.
Picture 1.
2. Next, go to the command Execute.

Figure 2.
3. Next, launch the command line. To do this, enter the following command in the line highlighted with a red marker:
Code: cmd
After that, press the button OK, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3.
4. We see the window shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4.
5. Enter the command to view available connections:
Code: ipconfig
Press the enter key.

Figure 5.
6. We see a list of available connections. In my case, the current one is the wireless network adapter, as marked in red in Figure 6. For you it may be a local network adapter. We see the parameter value IPv4 address looks like 192.168.0.36 . This is the current IP address of our computer on the local network.

Figure 6.
7. Now we launch any file manager and go to the folder with installed package Denver, as shown in Figure 7. You can have it in any other place, but the course of action does not change.

Figure 7.
8. Next, go to the directory:
Code: /denwer/home/
The current path is highlighted with a red marker.

Figure 8.
9. Here you need to create a new directory, the name of which will correspond to the IP address from paragraph 6 of this article, that is, the IP address of our computer on the local network.

Figure 9.
10. And so, the directory has been created, as shown in Figure 10. Let's go to it.

Figure 10.
11. Here you need to create another directory with the name:
Code: www
Pay attention to the directory in which we create the folder. The full path is outlined in purple in Figure 11.

Figure 11.
12. The system will access this folder when accessing the web server from the local network. This is where our hosting scripts will be stored.

Figure 12.
13.Now let's move on to testing the server. We launch Denver with the appropriate shortcut, as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13.
14. We wait until the corresponding icon appears in the system tray, informing about the successful launch of the package.

Figure 14.
15. Launch the web browser, and, in the address bar, enter the local IP address of our computer, as shown in Figure 15 in red.

Figure 15.
16. We see that access to the Denver server is open via the local network.

Figure 16.

This is another article from the Webmaster Tools section, in which I want to talk called Denwer, which can be freely downloaded from the developer’s resource. First, I'll tell you what it is local server and why should we work with him. Simply put, you can install and configure it on your computer, receiving a free analogue of hosting (read about what hosting and domains are).

In this case, you don’t have to buy hosting and don’t even have to have Internet access. The capabilities that Denver provides you are practically no different from those of a remote host, and it will consist of the same components and have the same capabilities. It already contains read more about this script), Apache server(read), has PHP support and much more.

Where to download Denwer, how to install and run it?

You can download separately all the local server components described above and install them on your computer and configure them correctly, but not everyone is able to do this. And even those who understand what’s what can experience a lot of difficulties during installation and especially when configuring it.

Therefore, to make life easier for you and me, various installation packages (assemblies) were invented and created, allowing us to download a fully working and configured complex with minimal effort.

All you have to do is download the appropriate assembly and install your project’s engine (Joomla, WordPress, etc.) on it, and then start working on it, just as you would do if you found the engine files on a physical host. By the way, as an option and alternative to this solution, you can consider, i.e. capable of working with Joomla and WordPress. But in this article we will talk specifically about localhost.

So, what do the developers of such free installation packages offer us? Let me list links to resource pages where you can download them, and then I’ll tell you in detail about the installation and configuration of one of them, which I chose as my favorite.

This is my personal choice, and you can use the package that you like best. Fortunately, working with them is quite similar and, having understood how to work with one assembly (today we will talk exclusively about Denwer), you can easily figure out any other.

Where you can download local server assemblies for free:

1. Denver - free download
2. VertrigoServ -

By clicking on the link, you will have to register in the form provided, after which you will receive an email with a link to download the Denwer distribution.

You run the downloaded file with the exe extension, agree to install the package, after which it begins to unpack, and then a browser window with a description of the installation will also open, which you can immediately close, and a black DOS window with the installation wizard will also appear:

Following the instructions of the wizard, press “Enter” to continue the installation. In the next window we need to indicate in which folder on our computer we will install the server. You can select, for example, C:\server .

Press “Enter”, when asked if you really want to install Denver in this particular directory, you answer by installing “y” (Y) and press “Enter” again. We are further informed that a separate virtual disk will now be created, which is necessary for the functioning of all components of the local server.

Just press “Enter”, and in the next window select a letter for the virtual disk. This letter, naturally, should not be this moment be used by your system (i.e. drive, the Latin letter “c”, you definitely don’t need to select it).

It is better to choose one of the last letters of the Latin alphabet, for example, Z. If it turns out that this letter is already used to designate a disk in your Windows operating system, you will see a message about the impossibility of creating such a disk.

In this case, you will need to press “Enter” and repeat the step of entering the name of the installation directory, press “Enter” again and enter a different letter. You can see which drive letters are already occupied in your computer in “My Computer”.

If the letter you selected is not occupied, you will see a message indicating the successful creation of the virtual disk.

Press “Enter”, which will begin copying the files of this assembly to the computer folder you previously specified. Next, you will be asked to select a download option, to which you respond by entering one and pressing “Enter”. You will also be asked whether to create shortcuts to start, stop or restart on the desktop, to which you will answer "y".

Using these shortcuts you will be able to start or stop the server. The installation wizard will then close, and a browser window will open with a page describing the next steps of working with the Denwer assembly.

Checking the health of the local server

Next, you go to the desktop and launch Denver by clicking on the “Start” shortcut. At the same time, a DOS window will open for a short time indicating that the server is starting, and then icons in the form of a feather and a black hat will appear in the tray (the area on the right side of the Windows taskbar, next to the clock), indicating that it is running.

Now type localhost in the address bar of your browser, which will take you to a page that says “Hurray, it’s working.” This means that the assembly was successfully installed on your Windows computer. By scrolling down this page, you will see links to check its functionality:

You follow this link, then in the window that opens, enter some text in the “Text” field (preferably in Russian - check that everything is in order with the encoding) and click on the “Send via mail” button. If everything worked correctly, you will receive a message like: OK, the mail() function worked correctly. But you also need to check that the letter actually arrived.

To do this, you need to go to our virtual disk (remember the letter you specified when installing this assembly) and follow the following path:

Z:\tmp\!sendmail\

By the way, you can go not to the virtual disk, but to the real one, where you have a local server installed (in my case, it’s drive C) along the same path:

C:\tmp\!sendmail\

If everything is in order with sending mail, then in this folder you should find the letter you sent. By opening it, you can check whether the Russian language encoding is correct.

Setting up and installing Joomla or WordPress in Denver

First, you will need to go to the folder where you installed the assembly (for me it is c:\server\) and follow the following path:

C:\server\home\localhost\www\

In this WWW directory you must create a directory into which you will subsequently need to upload engine files (Joomla, WordPress, etc.). You can come up with the name of the folder yourself, for example:

After creating the folder, restart the local host using the “Restart Denwer” shortcut on the desktop (if it has not already been launched, then launch it). To check its functionality, enter in the address bar of your browser:

Http://localhost/Proba/

If a page opens with the title “http://localhost/Proba/”, then everything is in order. If no window opens, try restarting Denwer again.

Now you need to install the engine (Joomla, WordPress, etc.) in exactly the same way as you did for real hosting (the installation of Joomla is described (in details and pictures). How to install SMF forum I wrote, and it’s covered in quite some detail at the link provided.

Those. you need to copy the engine files to a folder created on your computer (it acts as local hosting). In my case this is the folder:

C:\server\home\localhost\www\Proba\

This process will differ from installing the engine on a real host () only in that for copying files no need to use FTP manager- an ordinary conductor will do just fine, or something like the Total Commander described in the link.

After you copy the Joomla or WordPress files to the Denver folder, you need to install the site or blog by typing in the browser address bar:

Http://localhost/Proba/

As a result, the installation wizard window for a particular engine will open. Then you follow the same scenario as during a normal installation on a real hosting, with the only exception that you, as described in the article about installing Joomla (see link above), and in the manner described below.

Creating a database and user using Denwer

In order to get into the phpMyAdmin program, which is included in the local server build kit, you need to type the following URL in the address bar of your browser:

http://localhost/tools/

In the window that opens, click on the link called “phpmyadmin”, which will open the main page of this program. On it, in the “Create a new database” area, you enter the desired database name (for simplicity, it can be named the same as the directory for the site in the localhost folder, i.e. “Proba”, in my case) and click the “Create” button "

Now let's go back to home page phpMyAdmin by clicking on the house icon in the left column of the program window. Find the “Privileges” link in the “MySQL” area and click on it.

On the phpMyAdmin page that opens, in the center, you should find the “Add new user” item and click on it.

In the “Username” area, enter the desired name (I again use “Proba” for simplicity), in the “Host” area, enter localhost, in the “Password” and “Confirmation” areas, enter some very complex password twice.

In the “Global Privileges” area, click on “Check all” so that the database user you create has maximum rights.

That's it, the database and user in Denver are created. Now you can use this data when Joomla installation, WordPress, etc., which will follow the same sequence as when installing on a real hosting. Once this process is complete, your resource will be available at:

Http://localhost/Proba/

You can work with Joomla or WordPress in the usual way, but at the same time the work of editing engine files, installing and removing various extensions is significantly simplified and accelerated, and you also have the opportunity to work on your project even there. where there is no internet access.

Transferring a website to hosting

After finishing the project you should transfer website from Denwer to hosting so that it becomes available to visitors from the Internet. This is done in exactly the same way as if you were simply moving from one hosting to another or restoring your site from backup copy(I wrote about creating and restoring from a backup).

To do this, you will need to use the FileZilla program (which I wrote about) to move all the files from the local server folder (in my case the “Proba” folder) to the root directory of the remote host (usually either PUBLIC_HTML or HTDOCS).

And then open the configuration file of your engine for editing and change the parameters of the absolute path to the files and folders of this engine, as well as the database name, user and password, to those that you set when creating a new database on the hosting. All this is described in detail in the article about backup and transfer of the site, the link to which you will find by going up a couple of paragraphs).

How to remove Denver from your computer

Quite often the question arises of how to remove this assembly from your computer. The main problem with uninstallation is disabling the virtual disk created during installation. But first things first. First, of course, you will need to stop the local server using the appropriate shortcut on your desktop.

Then delete virtual disk, which was created during installation. Remember what letter you assigned to this virtual disk and go to Windows via the following path “Start” - “Run” (you can press the Win + R key combination instead), enter the command in the window that opens:

Subst z: /d

Instead of the virtual drive letter Z, you will need to enter your choice (drive Z suggests cz as the default virtual drive letter). Well, to permanently remove the Denwer assembly from your computer, it will be enough to delete the WebServers directory (by default this is the “C:\WebServers” folder) and remove three shortcuts from the desktop of your operating system Windows systems. That's it, we can assume that we managed to remove it with little blood.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

You might be interested

Projects started in Denver are not accessible from the local network by default. This is achieved by all virtual hosts having an IP address of 127.0.0.1, which always denotes the "current local machine".

However, it is still possible to assign a particular virtual host an "external" IP address, accessible from your local network or even the Internet (if the computer has a permanent IP address on the Internet).
Remember: Denver is a development tool, not a hosting tool. Although projects in Denver can be opened to the public, we strongly discourage this. The point here is security: Denver, as a rule, runs with Administrator rights, which means that scripts launched under its control can do whatever they want on the machine. The slightest "hole" in the security of the script will give a hacker access to your machine.

The authors of Denver are not responsible for any damage caused by hackers to those who open Denver to the outside and inadvertently introduce security vulnerabilities in their scripts.
Finding your IP address

First, you need to find out what IP address is assigned to you on your local network or Internet. The easiest way to do this is by opening Command line Windows and typing there:
ipconfig

You will see something like the following:
Setting up the IP protocol for Windows
WiFi - Ethernet adapter:
The DNS suffix of this connection. . :
IP address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.49
Subnet mask. . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Main gate. . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

In this case, the external IP address of the machine on the local network is 192.168.0.49. The list may contain several network interfaces at once (if your computer is equipped with several network cards or wireless devices). In this case, you need to determine which of the interfaces is external, accessible from the local network. (IP addresses starting with 192.168 or 10 are reserved only for access from the local network, not from the Internet. That is, they are "private".)
Make sure your IP address is static, i.e. does not change the next time you turn on the machine or reboot. If the IP address is assigned dynamically, then there is no simple way, allowing you to connect Denver to it.
Setting up a Windows firewall (firewall)

On most Windows systems, built-in (or installed manually by you) firewall or the antivirus is blocking connections from external machines to the current one. This is done for security reasons. Of course, if you open the site to the outside, this blocking should be disabled, otherwise no one will see the site.

Our goal is to resolve Windows connections to port 80 (HTTP protocol) of your IP address 192.168.0.49, on which Apache will hang. Here are instructions on how to do this in Windows XP:
Open Start - Control Panel, select Windows Firewall.
Go to the Exceptions tab.
Click the Add port button, enter your IP address in the Name field, and enter 80 in the Port number field.

If you installed your own firewall or antivirus, then, of course, you will have to refer to their documentation.
A simple way to open a website to the outside

Let's assume your IP address is 192.168.0.49, as in the example above. The easiest way to force Denver to open a specific site at an address is to place the site's documents in a directory:
/home/192.168.0.49/www

Yes, the directory name contains dots! Don't forget to restart Denver as well.

Moreover: if your ISP gave you not only an IP address, but also an associated Domain name, then the site will be immediately accessible using this domain name. In the case of a static IP address, the domain is almost always issued; you just need to ask your provider for it. For example, if your domain name is abcd.ints.ru (provider Korvet-Telecom NEKST), then the site will be available at .
Another way to assign an IP address to a site

If you already have a virtual host in Denver and don't want to rename its document directory, you can assign the site its own IP address and make it accessible externally. Let's assume that your host is stored in the /home/mysupersite/www directory. To assign it the IP address 192.168.0.49, you need to create a file /home/mysupersite/.htaccess and add the following lines to it:
## File /home/mysupersite/.htaccess
## Enter your external IP address here, not 192.168.0.49!
# dnwr_ip 192.168.0.49
By the way, you can find out what other directives exist by looking at the /home/custom/.htaccess file.

Restart Denver. Check that the address (instead of 192.168.0.49, of course, you need to substitute your own IP address) opens your site /home/mysupersite/www.
Security Alert

Let us remind you once again that Denver is not a complete and reliable Web server, it is just a tool that allows you to debug (test) sites “without leaving your home.” Any attempt to use it for other purposes may be unsafe.

In general, you can configure anything, whether it is necessary is another matter. Remember that a Web server that is open to the outside world represents a potential vulnerability in your machine's security. For example, an attacker can penetrate through a script that is not fully debugged. Because Denver is launched with Administrator rights (that is, with maximum rights in the system), then any script, even the smallest one, can do whatever it pleases. Let's assume that you wrote a seemingly innocuous test.pl script that does the following:
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use CGI::WebIn;
use CGI::WebOut;
Header("Content-type: text/plain");
open(F, $IN) or die "Could not open\n";
while( ) ( print )

The program appears to simply print the contents of the file specified by the fname parameter. For example, it will print source programs. However, it is easy to see that calling open in this form is unsafe. For example, by going to /cgi/test.pl?fname=|del+/s/q+c:\windows, the program will execute:
open(F, "|del /s/q c:\\windows") or ...

This will immediately destroy the entire Windows directory!

Perhaps you will say that localhost is just localhost to work only from the current machine. If you opened access to the outside according to the instructions given above, then everything is exactly like this. However, in case incorrect setting Apache can be penetrated on localhost and from outside (if the server is open). This is done very simply:
C:/> telnet server.ru 80
GET /cgi/test.pl?fname=|del+/s/q+c:\windows HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost
here you just need to press Enter

Conclusion: Unless you have significant experience in server administration, installing an externally accessible Web server can be dangerous. This especially applies to the lucky owners of dedicated Internet channels. One wrong move and you'll wake up one morning with a freshly formatted hard drive (at best).

This is, of course, a brutal copy-paste, but still let people read it). Material taken from Denwer.ru

Projects started in Denver, by default not available from the local network. This is achieved by all virtual hosts having an IP address of 127.0.0.1, which always denotes the "current local machine".

However, it is still possible to assign a particular virtual host an "external" IP address, accessible from your local network or even the Internet (if the computer has a permanent IP address on the Internet).

Remember: Denver is a development tool, not a hosting tool. Although projects in Denver can be opened to the public, we strongly discourage this. The point here is security: Denver, as a rule, runs with Administrator rights, which means that scripts launched under its control can do whatever they want on the machine. The slightest "hole" in the security of the script will give a hacker access to your machine.

Finding your IP address

Make sure your IP address is static, i.e. does not change the next time you turn on the machine or reboot. If the IP address is assigned dynamically, there is no easy way to connect Denver to it.

Setting up a Windows firewall (firewall)

Our goal is to allow Windows connections to port 80 (HTTP) of your IP address 192.168.0.49, which is where Apache will hang. Here are instructions on how to do this in Windows XP:

1. Open Start - Control Panel, select Windows Firewall.


2. Go to the tab Exceptions.

Click the button Add port, in field Name enter your IP address, and in the field Port number enter 80.

If you installed your own firewall or antivirus, then, of course, you will have to refer to their documentation.

A simple way to open a website to the outside

Moreover: if your provider has given you not only an IP address, but also an associated domain name, then the site will be immediately accessible under this domain name. In the case of a static IP address, the domain is almost always issued; you just need to ask your provider for it. For example, if your domain name is abcd.ints.ru (provider Corvette-Telecom NEKST), then the site will be available at http://abcd.ints.ru.

Another way to assign an IP address to a site

## File /home/mysupersite/.htaccess
## Enter your external IP address here, not 192.168.0.49!
# dnwr_ip 192.168.0.49

By the way, you can find out what other directives exist by looking at the /home/custom/.htaccess file.

Security Alert

In general, you can configure anything you want, it’s another matter - need to whether it is. Remember that a Web server that is open to the outside world represents a potential vulnerability in your machine's security. For example, an attacker can penetrate through a script that is not fully debugged. Because Denver is launched with Administrator rights (that is, with maximum rights in the system), then any script, even the smallest one, can do whatever it pleases. Let's assume that you wrote a seemingly harmless script called test.pl that does the following:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use CGI::WebIn;
use CGI::WebOut;
Header("Content-type: text/plain");
open(F, $IN) or die "Could not open\n";
while( ) ( print )

The program appears to simply print the contents of the file specified by the fname parameter. For example, http://localhost/cgi/test.pl?fname=test.pl will print the program's source code. However, it is easy to see that calling open in this form is unsafe. For example, by going to the address /cgi/test.pl?fname=|del+/s/q+c:\windows, the program will execute:

Open(F, "|del /s/q c:\\windows") or ...

This will immediately destroy the entire Windows directory!

You might say that localhost is what localhost is for, to work only from the current machine. If you opened access to the outside according to the instructions given above, then everything is exactly like this. However, if Apache is not configured correctly, it is possible to penetrate localhost from the outside (if the server is open). This is done very simply:

C:/> telnet server.ru 80
GET /cgi/test.pl?fname=|del+/s/q+c:\windows HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost
here you just need to press Enter

Conclusion: Unless you have significant experience in server administration, installing an externally accessible Web server can be dangerous. This especially applies to the lucky owners of dedicated Internet channels. One wrong move and you'll wake up one morning with a freshly formatted hard drive (at best).

It is a software shell that includes appropriate distributions and modules that allow you to develop, test and debug websites directly on your local computer, without the need to access the Internet.

Denver is traditionally considered one of the most relevant and effective tools for web developers. Powerful configuration and debugging tools, the ability to comfortably develop and test sites on a local server create ideal conditions for working without risks for your site on the Internet.

Working with Denver - features of the server itself

Before setting up Denver, you need to take into account several nuances of the server itself. First of all, key feature Denver now supports working with several web projects simultaneously, with each of them located separately on its own virtual host. To do this, the server creates a separate folder for each project. The creation of such hosts occurs automatically.

As practice shows, setting up Denwer is not particularly difficult, but it is still important to take into account a number of key parameters for efficient and stable operation. First of all, how to work with Denver, what do you need to consider for setup?

All components of this software solution are already provided fully configured, ready to work. Including SSL, MySQL encoding and others software. If desired, the user can manually update any of the services included in Denver. For this purpose, new versions of distributions are simply copied in a folder on top of the new ones.

After our installation is complete, the browser window will reappear informing you that the installation is complete. You can safely close it. To start the program, find the Start Denwer shortcut on the desktop - double-clicking on it will launch our server.

Of course, the program needs some time to start. And after loading the application, two icons will be visible on the panel - if they are present, the launch went fine. When we open “My Computer”, we will see virtual disk Z appear on the computer.

By going to it, we can notice several folders. In this case, we are interested in the Home folder.

And here we will already notice the presence of several folders - Localhost and test1.ru, which will be the root for two local sites. The first contains a set of utilities for working with a database, the second folder contains a test site with one web page.

Let's focus our attention on working with the database. Here, to work with Denver, launch any browser by typing localhost or http://localhost. After this we will see a message about the server operation.

Then, to set up Denver, scroll down this page all the way to the “Utilities” heading - we’ll see a lot of links. Select the line “phpMyAdmin - administration of the MySQL DBMS”, after which we will see a new window.

Enter the name of your database in the Create new database field in Latin, all you have to do is click Create and a new window should appear.

There is no need to do anything here, just click the Privileges tab to move on.

When you click Add a new User, we will see a new window in which you need to specify a number of information:

1. User name - mark the user name.
2. Host - here we indicate Localhost or you can select Local from the drop-down list.
3. Password and Re-type - here you need to specify a password. Or it can be generated using Generate. However, we definitely need to remember it, it’s better to record it somewhere, we will definitely need it in the future.

Below we will notice the Global privileges block. Here you need to select all the options using the Check All button. Then you just have to click Go in the right corner, after which we are done. All that remains is to congratulate you - after completing all these steps, you have successfully completed the creation of your new database. Next, let’s move on to using it directly for the efficient and stable operation of your website.

How to work with Denver - proceed to installing the CMS

We already have quite a serious amount of work behind us, because we managed to not only install and configure the server, but even create our own database. Now all that remains is to understand how to use the resources received to develop and test the desired site.

To do this, we have to install a specific CMS of our choice, which will be used to operate the site. But when installing the CMS, we will definitely need certain information, so we’ll immediately note it somewhere on a piece of paper or in a file - including the database name, the database user name itself and its password.

For CMS installations to a local server there are no special difficulties, you just need to follow the following procedure:

• Creating a key folder in which our site will be located.
• The necessary folders and files are transferred to this new directory.
• Rebooting our Denver server.
• And all that remains is to simply install the CMS.

As an example, let’s look at working with the currently popular CMS engine WordPress. Other CMS, of course, may require certain nuances, but general principle almost always absolutely universal.

Thus, we learned how to install, configure Denver (Denwer) and work with it.

Denver's modern capabilities have ideally positioned it for stable operation, with correct development and testing of the site without the need to host it on the network.

In our article, we looked at the main steps of how to install and work with Denwer. To start most projects, this information is enough - you have gone through the stages of installation, starting the server, configuring it, creating a database and launching a full-fledged website. That is, we have considered all life cycle to start developing a website - the rest depends only on your patience and talents, we wish you successful development and testing of high-quality and popular Internet resources.