[CentOS] Help setting up Apache and ftp on Centos

[Bruce Whealton]

So, I decided to install CentOS on a separate system in my local home
(business) network.  I know the internal IP and the external IP for the
router.  I will be working with a dynamic IP for a while, from our ISP,
provided by our cable company.  It's almost always the same but it's not
static.  

When I setup Linux on my VirtualBox, I setup a domain of sandbox.dev and IP
127.0.0.1 inside the Windows host file.  Inside VirtualBox, I forwarded the
port 2222 to 22 for SSH and 8080 to 80 for HTTP.  Then from Windows I could
connect to my server with http://sandbox.dev:8080/
Now, I tried to setup the httpd.conf file on the other system running Apache
to use a domain name.  I followed a tutorial on the web.  I did backup the
file.  Here are my questions:
1) The tutorial suggested that I setup a root for all websites of /www,
which is fine.  So, then if I wanted to setup domain1.com, I would create a
directory of /www/domain1.com, does that sound right?  Then I would put the
site files in a html folder, perhaps?
2) How can I test this so that it would be similar to a remote production
server?  One, from my own local network and two, as if coming from the web?
I did forward the router port for the machine with CentOS.  During
installation of CentOS, I identified the machine as fwwebdevelopment.com.  I
don't have a DNS server setup yet to map that domain to my external IP.  
3) Is there a way to connect to the server on that machine, from my main
desktop, using anything besides the internal IP, as in being able to browse
to fwwebdevelopment.com while I am inside my own LAN?  I suppose I know it
can be done.  Do, I need to change this in the windows host file, for it to
work inside my local network, if I am using a Windows desktop to browse to
the site?
4) Should I use something like dynamic dns to map a domain  to my IP?  
5) I want to also be able to have ftp setup.  So, if I was developing for
Drupal, and I wanted to do updates, I could both ftp from my desktop to the
other machine and be able to download to that machine from the web.
Currently, on my virtualbox installation on my machine, I cannot download
files for Drupal updates because it says ftp is not configured.  So, I'm
asking if I setup the ftp server on that machine, can I ftp from my internal
network and from the web?
Thanks in advance for any help,
Bruce


_______________________________________________________
Bruce Whealton - Web Design/Development/Programming
Future Wave Web Development:
http://futurewaveonline.com
Developing for the Desktop as well as for
Mobile Devices - Smartphones/Tablets
Call 919-636-5809
_______________________________________________________