3.3 Websites and .localhost addresses

Serving a project as a website

1. Open the project and its “Website” section.
2. In “Folder to serve as a website” write the folder to publish: . for the whole project, or for example public.
3. In “with” choose how to serve it (see the table).
4. For Caddy and Apache, also choose the “Server profile”.
5. Press “Save”. The site becomes the project's default action: it starts with “Start”.

“Remove the website” removes the configuration. To change it, stop the site first: the change applies from the next start.

The server profile: shared or its own

1. StartPress “Start” in the project.
2. PoolThe kit turns on the pool of its versions, or reloads it if it is already on.
3. NameThe site gets the name <project>.localhost.
4. AddressYou open it at http://<project>.localhost:<pool port>.

• “Stop” detaches the site from the pool. A pool turned on by projects shuts down with the last project, unless you started it from the Web Servers page or its profile says “Keep running even without projects”.
• If the automatic pool fails to start, the site uses its own server and the output says so: “The shared server … did not start (…): the site uses its own server.”
• In the pool the site keeps your directives, as with its own server: Apache includes the .conf files of data\projects\<project>\apache\conf.d, Caddy imports the .caddy files of data\projects\<project>\caddy\conf.d.

.localhost domains and aliases

With Caddy and Apache you can give the site other names and link folders from other places. Names ending in .localhost always lead to this PC, without touching the Windows hosts file.

“Add alias” adds a “URL path” → “Relative folder” row; “Remove” removes it. The folders must be relative (no absolute paths and no ..), so the site keeps working if the kit changes drive letter or PC.

The “Web Servers” page

The “Active pools and profiles” box lists the shared servers with their port, status and number of sites. Clicking one opens its page:

The buttons at the top: “Start” or “Stop”, “Reload configuration” and, for profiles, “Delete profile”, which asks for a confirmation first. A pool still on but no longer tied to projects or profiles shows a warning: stop it. A project created, cloned or deleted appears on the page or disappears from it at once.

1. To create a profile, press “New server profile” at the top of the sidebar.
2. Fill in “Profile name”, “Web server” (Caddy or Apache httpd), “Server version”, “PHP version” and, if you want, “Port” (otherwise the kit picks a free one between 8081 and 8999). A port that another pool, a database version or a project action already has, or one between 7000 and 7099 (the editor's), is refused: the message says whose it is.
3. Choose whether to keep it on even without projects and whether to start it with Atollo, then press “Create profile”.
4. In the projects' “Website” section, choose the profile in the “Server profile” menu.

Being reachable from other PCs on the network

Normally the sites respond only to this PC. To try them from a phone or another computer on the same network, turn on “Let other PCs on the network reach the project servers” in Settings › Network: Company network: proxy, certificates, local network (6.3). The other devices use this PC's IP address and the port, with PHP's built-in server too; .localhost names work only here. While the site is running, the “From the phone” row in the action's details shows that address with its QR code, to scan with the phone. Databases and phpMyAdmin stay closed to the network in any case.