What I'm trying to do:

run web-based CRM software... this requires apache, mysql, perl basically to serve the application on the LAN via a loopback address (127.0.0.1) actual lan IP 192.168.0.4

From what I understand in Suse srv/www/htdocs is the folder that should be shown when accessing localhost... When I surf to //localhost I get "local host could not be found" (when I run another application I use
localhostort8080 and that works)

I have made sure that apache, sql, httpd are all running, the firewall has been configured and also disabled, and tried accessing localhost while logged in as root all with the same error.

What am I doing wrong or misunderstanding?

Hi viperkt400,

Try firing this command:-
echo 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost >> /etc/hosts


This will set an alias in your /etc/hosts file which will look then as:-

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost

you may change localhost.localdomain to anything.


Hope, this will help you.


Bye

Does it work when you use 127.0.0.1 or 192.168.0.4 (or 127.0.0.1:8080 if its on port 8080)?

when you open your browser, do you just type 'localhost' ?

Try typing http://localhost

Also, check your apache conf file and check which port is the server listening on.

Also try to do 'nmap localhost -p 80' , see if port 80 is open.

If you want to open your application to other computers on your network, make
Apache listen to your regular IP, not the localhost interface.
The localhost interface is a "loopback", which means that any packets sent out by your computer on this
network interface only wind up back on your computer. Each machine (each network card) has it's own localhost interface and other machines can never contact your machine's localhost interface.

Most web servers listen to port 80 (which is the default for HTTP protocol). Hence, in browsers, you don't need to type:
http://something:80/
the port 80 is implied by using "http://" (HTTP protocol).

However, your Apache daemon seems to be listening to port 8080 (see apache config). Thus, you'll need to:
-either type "http://your_server:8080/" in your browser to force it to use port 8080 on the web server;
-or change the settings of Apache to use the standard port 80. Note that this has security implications, since ports < 1024 can only be "allocated" by root. Hence, Apache will need to (temporarily) run as root to attach itself to that port.