Apache Listen configuration [closed]

Question

What is the difference between the following configurations

Listen *:80 //anything at port 80
Listen 192.168.0.34:80 //from an internal ip on port 80
Listen 173.194.35.23:80 //from an external ip on port 80

Which of them is the best configuration (if there is any difference between them). I want my server to be accessed from internet not just from a LAN.

Answer 1

I always use *:80.

You can only listen on IPs that are actually bound to the network cards of your server but it's poor practice to have a server that straddle internal and external networks, IMHO, so I wouldn't define internal and external addresses.

The only time I think it is necessary to be specific about what IP address you listen on is if you have particular IP based virtual hosting.