UNDER CONSTRUCTION: This is the beginning of a much larger article that I will add to....
This is a simple question that can quickly spiral into a massive discussion. Most of the problems have little to do with dbFront.
Step 1. Basic Intranet Access
dbFront is a web application that is hosted by your workstation's or server's IIS install. Therefore by default dbFront is immediately accessible via your local intranet. All you need to do is give other users your computer name and the IIS application name where you installed dbFront. For example, if your workstation is named "MyDesktop" and dbFront was installed using the default appname, then the other people on your network simply need to browse to "http://MyDesktop/dbFront/" and they will be able to access your dbFront install.
The computer name works because the computers within your local network most likely have access to some form of name resolution. Name resolution is where the name you type into the address bar (e.g. "MyDesktop") is turned into a IP address (e.g. 192.168.1.0.100) which is then used to locate your computer on the network
Name resolution on the internet requires much more work so we will leave that for a later step.
SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
Before you proceed you need to seriously consider the security of your
workstation (your banking info, other personal information) AND the security
of any data you expose via dbFront. A system that is not properly secured
can be an easy target for hackers.
Step 2. Using your IP Address
The next step is to find your IP address. You can find your IP address by opening a windows console (Windows - CMD) and typing "ipconfig".
Depending on your install you may see multiple entries that look something like the following.
Ethernet adapter Ethernet:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : ff80::................
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.100
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
You want to look for the first entry that has an IPv4 address.
Replace the "MyDesktop" in the previous step and now try to browse to your dbFront install using that URL: "http://192.168.0.100/dbFront/"
Step 3. Determine Your Public IP Address
In the unlikely event that your IPv4 address in step 2 is identical to the IPv4 address in step 3, then it means that you are using a public IP address and that your computer is directly accessible via the internet. This is both 'convenient' but also 'dangerous'.
It is 'convenient' because you can give the URL from "Step 2" to another user on the internet and they may be able to directly access your computer and dbFront install.
It is 'dangerous', because ANYONE on the internet has access directly to your computer and your dbFront install.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION: More to follow.
