Hi - I am trying to create a BROWSER TESTING ENVIRONMENT on my iMac. All I am being told is that I should be using a ‘Bridged Network’.
Details :
Host [ LION / SNOW LEOPARD - OS X ]
VIRTUAL MACHINE [ Windows 7 ]
BROWSER [ Internet Explorer ]
thanking in advance, N.
mnaseerrsj,
After years of avoiding Macs, I’m now illiterate.
However, the problems facing Mac users are the same as for WinDoze users: security (on a directory level), ownership of port 80 and installation settings. Most of those can be avoided (for a snapshot view - which I do NOT recommend) by using MAMP (line LAMP or WAMP), a canned set of programs which utilize a common installer application. Little ability to update individual applications but the installation should be easy enough for you.
As for “bridged network,” I’ve never seen that (nonsense) before.
If you fall back on using your W7 VM, there are known problems there, too, but you’d find better help for combating the M$-induced problems.
If all else fails, you may try PMing Stomme Poes as she does use a Mac and may be able to point you in the correct direction.
Regards,
DK
Stomme poes doesn’t use a Mac, but I do. 
I have no idea what a ‘bridged network’ is, but if you want to test PC browsers on your Mac, here’s what I do:
I use VMWare fusion, a program that lets you set up one or more instances of Windoze on your Mac. If you don’t want to pay for Fusion (which is selling for under $50 atm) you gan get a really good free equivalent, called VirtualBox. (Mind you, Windoze itself is not free. Far from it, indeed, weighing in at about 10 times the price of the Mac OS, for 10 times less quality, too. :D)
I also use MAMP, and there is a nice article here about how you can create nice URLs with it. You can also set it up to work with the virtual Machine.
Ralph, have you setup your Mac as an Apache server? Okay, I was sure that you don’t need a VM … but I was wrong! ;(
mn, given Ralph’s post, MAMP seems to be the simplest way to implement a test server.
Regards,
DK
I may have been unclear, but I was in a hurry (needed to go out). I’ve just taken the simple option and used MAMP for a local server environment. That bit doesn’t require a virtual machine at all. The virtual machine was for running Windows browsers on the Mac. Setting up Windows like that in a virtual machine lets you browse the web with Windows browsers. But you can also view the MAMP sites (that are on your local machine) in those windows browsers by configuring the hosts files in those virtual machines.
E.g.
In Win7: go to Start > Control Panel > network and internet > network and sharing center > local area connection > Details
This will identify an IP address, such as 172.16.5.2. Assuming (using the last link I posted) that your test site is in a folder named /testsite/, all that’s needed is to append the following lines at the bottom of the plain-text file located at Start > Computer > Hard Disk Drives > Windows > system32 > drivers > etc > hosts
172.16.5.2. testsite
I should also mention that the information I posted in the link in my first post is only needed if you use the free MAMP version. If you use MAMP Pro, all that virtual host stuff is done for you.
.
Thank you to everyone for your quick replies and sorry for not being clear before but basically I am trying to connect from the Browser on my VM through Parallels to my local apache server ( Zend CE ), all of which are on the same physical machine, my iMac.
Over the last couple of days I was frantically trying out a solution that I found over the web to work but coming on stuck and could use some help please :
[Setting up parallels and virtual hosts on your macbook](http://2ni.ch/2006/11/22/setting-up-parallels-and-virtual-hosts-on-your-macbook/)
I had earlier downloaded and setup Parallels Desktop 7 and installed Windows 7 VM on it with the OS X Lion as the Host.
My attempt on modifying my original setup for the web server ( Zend CE ) on OS X as instructed by the article, and with setting up a duplicate port on System Preferences - Network - Ethernet (by duplicating it) …I think I need some help as I have a gap in my conceptual understanding related to server and networking configurations.
Not sure if it’s safe to post my httpd-vhosts, httpd, hosts configurations and my network settings here …if it is I’ll go ahead and post some of the existing/new settings that I used.
One thing I know for sure the new network settings are breaking 
the apache server, but this would be a good project/place for me to start learning all this as it’s important for me to gain this side of understanding, so would be grateful if you could assist me to certain extent with that.
.
It looks to me like the article you linked to makes heavy weather of something that could be simpler. I don’t think it makes any difference whether you are using Parallels or Fusion. The article I linked to is clearer and should work the same, I would think. And the notes I gave about setting up Windows, also, I think, should work the same.
.
Hi Ralph thank you for your reply.
I already setup virtualhost urls with a similar article to yours and currently making use of a handy utility called ‘VirtualHostX’. But if I download Fusion I would still need to figure out how to connect from Windows VM to my apache server (in a zend ce setup that I use). I need assistance with this and I don’t mind if it is Fusion, Parallels, or VirtualBox. In fact I have already setup VirtualBox and Parallels - haven’t got round to Fusion yet. I know people have done what I am trying to do before and so it can be done and I would be very grateful if someone can kindly assist me with this please.
And the reason I tried Parallels first was because there was a way to contact there technical support team before purchasing there product via phone which I thought was important otherwise I would end up with a product that may not satisfy what I am trying to achieve since I already have VirtualBox setup already.
.
Ah, OK, I know nothing about that. I found it very easy to comment Windows to MAMP by the steps I listed in post #5, but have no idea if that would help you in this situation, though I don’t see why not.
To be honest, I just use VMWare Fusion because it’s the first thing I found. It’s fine for what I need to do, but I gotta say, their website is from the pits of hell. You don’t want to have to find your way around that (not that you need to very often).
just a quick update …I have the setup up and running. The browser on my Guest Virtual Machine running Windows under Parallels Desktop 7 is now talking to the Apache server in the shape of Zend Server CE on the Host. The setup was ridiculously straightforward, the only thing that gave me some concern in the beginning was the built-in apache server on my Mac was interfering with the Zend Server CE, So once I switched it (built-in) off the settings took affect and later I switched it back on again and my setup continues to work.