How to Install and Test a Web Server in Chromebook Linux

You can easily set up a web server on your Chromebook’s Linux environment, Crostini. Here’s how to do it in three simple steps.

The Chromebook Linux environment (Crostini) is a great tool for development, and it’s especially good for web development. It’s easy to install a web server to test your web page right from your Chromebook before deploying it to a production server. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Install a Web Server on Your Chromebook

It’s easy to install any supported web server on your Chromebook, using the standard Debian APT tool. For example, if you wanted to install Apache, you’d just run this command:

sudo apt install apache2

If you wanted to install another server, such as Ngnix, you’d also use APT:

sudo apt install nginx

APT will then install and start the server you just downloaded.

If you want to make sure it’s running, there are a couple of ways. You can use either top or htop and look for the name of the server daemon. You could also use the ps command and grep the output to check if the daemon is running:

ps aux | grep server

Replace server with the name of the server in the aforementioned command.

You can start and stop your server with the systemctl command. For example, to start Apache, type:

sudo systemctl start apache2.service

Step 2: Find the IP Address of the Linux Container

Once you’ve confirmed that your server is running, you’ll want to find out what IP address the container is connected to. You can do this by running:

ip address

This will list all the interfaces of the Linux container. Look for the section that reads “eth0.” The IP address is listed next to “inet.” This is a private address that’s only visible to your Chromebook.

Step 3: Connecting to Your Server

The next step is to actually connect to your server and make sure it works. This is very easy. Just put the IP address you got earlier into the Chrome browser and you should see the test page.

You can then start developing your website, placing the files in the default directory the server will look for, typically in /var/www.

Now You Can Develop and Test Websites on Your Chromebook

You can see how easy it is to install a server for web development on your Chromebook. Note that all these steps only work on Crostini, which is the Linux environment on your Chromebook. Read on for more information on setting up Linux on your Chromebook.

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