6. Account and settings
6.3 Company network: proxy, certificates, local network
When you need them, how to fill them in and what they apply to. Plus how to let the other PCs on the network see your websites.
In the app: «Settings»
In short
- They are needed only if the network goes through a proxy or inspects HTTPS traffic, as in many companies and schools.
- They apply to the kit's downloads, to the agents and to the tools in the consoles.
- “Local network” lets the other PCs on the network see the projects' sites.
Working out whether you need them
If everything downloads at home but at the office downloads fail with connection or certificate errors, the company network probably uses a proxy, or inspects HTTPS traffic with its own certificate. Your IT support can give you the right values; often they are the same as those set in the company browser.
The fields
| Field | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| HTTPS proxy | http://proxy.azienda.it:8080 | The most important one: Atollo's downloads use it too. |
| HTTP proxy | http://proxy.azienda.it:8080 | For unencrypted connections. |
| No proxy for | localhost,127.0.0.1,.azienda.it | Addresses to reach directly, separated by commas. |
| Additional certificates (PEM file) | E:\certificati\azienda.pem | The company's certificate, for programs like Node.js that do not use the system's ones. |
- Open Settings › “Network” (at the first start, the “Network” group of the “Welcome to Atollo” page: nothing downloads before “Install”) and fill in the fields you need.
- There is nothing to press: the values save themselves as you type. If the editor is open, press “Restart the editor” in the notice that appears.
- Go back to Tools and retry the download that was failing.
- The proxy must start with http:// or https:// and have no spaces; if a user is needed: http://user:password@host:port.
- The PEM file must exist: the kit checks the path at every save. As long as the value is not valid its error appears and the field is not saved; the kit tries again at the next change.
Local network
The “Let other PCs on the network reach the project servers” checkbox opens the projects' sites to the network: useful to try a site from your phone. From the other devices you use this PC's IP address with the site's port (for example http://192.168.1.20:8000), with no need to type it: in the details of the running action, on the project page, the “From the phone” row shows the address with “Copy” and “Show the QR code”, to scan with the phone's camera. Databases and phpMyAdmin stay reachable only from this PC.
- PHP's built-in server (php -S) and the file server of static sites answer whoever calls them by the PC's IP address; with any other name the request stays refused.
- On this PC a static site also answers at http://<project>.localhost:<port>, besides localhost and 127.0.0.1, with the checkbox on or off.
- The “From the phone” row appears only for a localhost or 127.0.0.1 address and only if this PC has a private address on the network (192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x, 172.16-31.x.x). The site must have been started after turning “Local network” on: if it was already running, stop it and start it again. With a VPN on, the address shown may be the VPN's.
Under the hood
- The values end up in the HTTPS_PROXY, HTTP_PROXY, NO_PROXY and NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS variables of all the kit's programs. With a PEM file, data\app\ca-bundle.pem joins the system's certificates and its own, for the tools that read a single file (SSL_CERT_FILE, REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE, PIP_CERT, CURL_CA_BUNDLE, GIT_SSL_CAINFO, CARGO_HTTP_CAINFO). A PEM file inside the kit is saved relative to the kit: it follows it to another drive or folder.
- Atollo's own downloads use these settings too: the “HTTPS proxy” (if empty the “HTTP proxy”, otherwise the PC's variables or the system proxy), the “No proxy for” hosts reached directly, and the system's certificates plus those of the PEM file. If the company certificate is already installed on the PC, the PEM file is not needed. A file with no PEM certificate is refused.
- PAC files (automatic proxy configuration) are not supported: ask for the proxy address.
- “Local network” sets ATOLLO_ALLOW_LAN=1: the projects' commands listen on all interfaces (127.0.0.1 in the command becomes 0.0.0.0), and so do the file server and the Caddy and Apache pools. The php -S router and the file server then also accept an IP address as Host; to any other name that is not localhost, *.localhost, 127.0.0.1 or [::1] they answer 421.