I have the Abyss Web Server running on my PC. When I try to access the web page from another PC on the internet, it says the page/server can not be found. I am using http://ipaddress in the address bar to access the page. Do I need a domain name? Is there any security considerations when having a domain name? I'm also using ZoneAlarm firewall on the server PC. I had to add the wireless network I'm using to test this to the trusted zone in order to ping the server PC. When it wasn't in the zone, all pings were blocked. Even though I was able to eventually ping the server, I still get the server cannot be found error in Internet Explorer. At this point, I'm assuming I need a domain name. Am I right? Thanks.

You don't normally need a URL to access a web page, the IP address should be sufficient. Be aware though that your IP address is likely to change unless you have a static IP address from your ISP. I am assuming you are connecting to the Internet via a router, in which case you need to ensure that the router is configured to forward port 80, HTTP requests, to the computer that is hosting the server. You will probably find this under Virtual Servers. Without this configuration the router doesn't know how to handle incoming HTTP request and just ignores them. Stuart

StuartS, Thanks for responding. I don't use a router so I don't have to forward the requests. But what about my ISP? They may be blocking port 80. I think I might try moving the server to another port and see if that helps.

Could be you ISP blocking port 80, you will have to ask them. You can move the server to another port but it wont achieve anything. Incoming HTTP request will still be on port 80. The only way around that is to have everyone who wishes to connect to your server to inlude the port number: http://your_iP_address:8080 8080 being an alternative port to the default of 80. Stuart