Mac® Security Bible

7.7. Web Sharing

Thanks to Mac OS X's built-in web-sharing feature, every Mac can function as a web server (at least in a limited sense). Web sharing is based on Apache, the most popular and widely used open-source web server on the planet. Thus, it offers outstanding performance, compatibility, and flexibility. That doesn't necessarily mean you can do without a conventional web-hosting service, but for simple applications, site testing, or an Intranet server for a small business, it can be a good fit. And each person who has a user account on the Mac automatically gets a personal website. As with all sharing features, though, running a web server on your Mac entails some potential security risks.

7.7.1. Activating Web Sharing

To activate Web Sharing, follow these steps:

1. Choose System Preferences to open System Preferences and then click Sharing to open the Sharing pane.

2. If the lock icon in the lower-left corner of the pane is in the locked state, click it, type an administrator's username and password, and then click OK.

3. In the list on the left, click the On check box next to Web Sharing. With Web Sharing selected from the list on the left as shown in Figure 7.10, the right side of the pane shows the URLs for your Mac's main home page and your personal home page.

That's it! Your ...