how to access my Vue application from an external ip?

Question

I'm developing a "Vue" application and I need to access it from an external ip to check its performance on mobile devices. My webpack version is 3.12.0 and my vue is 2.5.2

{
 
  "scripts": {
    "build": "node build/build.js",
    "dev": "webpack-dev-server --inline --progress --config build/webpack.dev.conf.js --allowed-hosts 192.168.42.126",
    "start": "npm run dev",
    "lint": "eslint --ext .js,.vue src"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@babel/polyfill": "^7.11.5",
    "axios": "^0.20.0",
    "bootstrap": "^4.5.2",
    "bootstrap-vue": "^2.16.0",
    "core-js": "^3.6.5",
    "mobile-device-detect": "^0.4.3",
    "style-resources-loader": "^1.3.3",
    "vue": "^2.5.2",
    "vue-router": "^2.8.1",
    "vuex": "^3.5.1"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@vue/cli-plugin-babel": "^4.5.6",
    "autoprefixer": "^7.1.2",
    "babel-core": "^6.22.1",
    "babel-helper-vue-jsx-merge-props": "^2.0.3",
    "babel-loader": "^7.1.1",
    "babel-plugin-syntax-jsx": "^6.18.0",
    "babel-plugin-transform-runtime": "^6.22.0",
    "babel-plugin-transform-vue-jsx": "^3.5.0",
    "babel-polyfill": "^6.26.0",
    "babel-preset-env": "^1.3.2",
    "babel-preset-stage-2": "^6.22.0",
    "chalk": "^2.0.1",
    "copy-webpack-plugin": "^4.0.1",
    "css-loader": "^0.28.0",
    "extract-text-webpack-plugin": "^3.0.0",
    "file-loader": "^1.1.4",
    "friendly-errors-webpack-plugin": "^1.6.1",
    "html-webpack-plugin": "^2.30.1",
    "node-notifier": "^5.1.2",
    "optimize-css-assets-webpack-plugin": "^3.2.0",
    "ora": "^1.2.0",
    "portfinder": "^1.0.13",
    "postcss-import": "^11.0.0",
    "postcss-loader": "^2.0.8",
    "postcss-url": "^7.2.1",
    "rimraf": "^2.6.0",
    "sass": "^1.26.10",
    "sass-loader": "^7.3.1",
    "sass-resources-loader": "^2.1.0",
    "semver": "^5.3.0",
    "shelljs": "^0.7.6",
    "uglifyjs-webpack-plugin": "^1.1.1",
    "url-loader": "^0.5.8",
    "vue-loader": "^13.3.0",
    "vue-style-loader": "^3.0.1",
    "vue-template-compiler": "^2.5.2",
    "webpack": "^3.12.0",
    "webpack-bundle-analyzer": "^2.9.0",
    "webpack-dev-server": "^2.9.1",
    "webpack-merge": "^4.1.0"
  },
  "browserslist": [
    "> 1%",
    "last 2 versions",
    "not ie <= 8"
  ],
  "engines": {
    "node": ">= 6.0.0",
    "npm": ">= 3.0.0"
  }
}

and my webpack.dev.conf.js

'use strict'
const utils = require('./utils')
const webpack = require('webpack')
const config = require('../config')
const merge = require('webpack-merge')
const path = require('path')
const baseWebpackConfig = require('./webpack.base.conf')
const CopyWebpackPlugin = require('copy-webpack-plugin')
const HtmlWebpackPlugin = require('html-webpack-plugin')
const FriendlyErrorsPlugin = require('friendly-errors-webpack-plugin')
const portfinder = require('portfinder')

const HOST = process.env.HOST
const PORT = process.env.PORT && Number(process.env.PORT)

const devWebpackConfig = merge(baseWebpackConfig, {
  module: {
    rules: utils.styleLoaders({ sourceMap: config.dev.cssSourceMap, usePostCSS: true })
  },
  // cheap-module-eval-source-map is faster for development
  devtool: config.dev.devtool,

  // these devServer options should be customized in /config/index.js
  devServer: {
    clientLogLevel: 'warning',
    host: '0.0.0.0',
    historyApiFallback: {
      rewrites: [
        { from: /.*/, to: path.posix.join(config.dev.assetsPublicPath, 'index.html') },
      ],
    },
    hot: true,
    contentBase: false, // since we use CopyWebpackPlugin.
    compress: true,
    host: HOST || config.dev.host,
    port: PORT || config.dev.port,
    open: config.dev.autoOpenBrowser,
    overlay: config.dev.errorOverlay
      ? { warnings: false, errors: true }
      : false,
    publicPath: config.dev.assetsPublicPath,
    proxy: config.dev.proxyTable,
    disableHostCheck: true,
    quiet: true, // necessary for FriendlyErrorsPlugin
    watchOptions: {
      poll: config.dev.poll,
    }
  },
  plugins: [
    new webpack.DefinePlugin({
      'process.env': require('../config/dev.env')
    }),
    new webpack.HotModuleReplacementPlugin(),
    new webpack.NamedModulesPlugin(), // HMR shows correct file names in console on update.
    new webpack.NoEmitOnErrorsPlugin(),
    // https://github.com/ampedandwired/html-webpack-plugin
    new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
      filename: 'index.html',
      template: 'index.html',
      inject: true
    }),
    // copy custom static assets
    new CopyWebpackPlugin([
      {
        from: path.resolve(__dirname, '../static'),
        to: config.dev.assetsSubDirectory,
        ignore: ['.*']
      }
    ])
  ]
})

module.exports = new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
  portfinder.basePort = process.env.PORT || config.dev.port
  portfinder.getPort((err, port) => {
    if (err) {
      reject(err)
    } else {
      // publish the new Port, necessary for e2e tests
      process.env.PORT = port
      // add port to devServer config
      devWebpackConfig.devServer.port = port

      // Add FriendlyErrorsPlugin
      devWebpackConfig.plugins.push(new FriendlyErrorsPlugin({
        compilationSuccessInfo: {
          messages: [`Your application is running here: http://${devWebpackConfig.devServer.host}:${port}`],
        },
        onErrors: config.dev.notifyOnErrors
        ? utils.createNotifierCallback()
        : undefined
      }))

      resolve(devWebpackConfig)
    }
  })
})

I have followed the steps marked for the configuration and to be able to access from an ip address, but when I start the project "npm run dev" it only gives me access from localhost. what am i doing wrong?

thank you all for your time and help

a greeting

Answer 1

You might be behind a router/firewall. Port might be not exposed etc. can have many reasons. It should work if you deploy your application on a cloud hosting provider such as netlify or render.com.

Another solution would be ngrok its made to expose dev environments for testing.