Use forward to access localhost from anywhere

If you want to access your local applications that run on local servers and accessible via http://localhost from anywhere in the world via the Internet then use forward.

Create an account

You need to create an account in forward website. I created mine as inanzzz.

Install

Install via "Command Line" option as described in How to Install Forward page. If you get gem related errors, you might need to upgrade your get package like below.

$ sudo apt-add-repository ppa:brightbox/ruby-ng
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install ruby2.2 ruby2.2-dev

Run

Make sure you run it on port 80.

$ forward 80
localhost is now available at: https://wrv-inanzzz.fwd.wf

Ctrl-C to stop forwarding

Access

If you call https://wrv-inanzzz.fwd.wf from your browser, you'll see that your localhost is exposed to the Internet now. Forward will list all requests like below. For the virtual hosts for your local applications, you might need to add ServerAlias wrv-inanzzz.fwd.wf or ServerAlias *-inanzzz.fwd.wf in their conf files.

HTTP Requests
-------------

[11:43:19] [GET] /
[11:56:58] [GET] /app_test.php