Setting up a virtual Apache server

Holy shit, 10 days without a blog post? Fear not, I have been coding! Just not writing about coding.

So here's where I'm at now. I'm near the end of the practical section of Agile Web Development. The chapter I'm on now is about deployment and I'm having trouble setting up a virtual Apache server and actually getting Depot to deploy. Everything appears to be installed correctly, but I can't get everything tied together correctly.

How do I find my host name? I'll need to define it as depot.hostname.com in my Apache configuration file. I thought it would just be depot.localhost.com, or perhaps depot.127.0.0.1.com, but neither of those worked.

I also had trouble editing my hosts file. I'm able to open it through the terminal, but it won't allow me to make changes.

Still, this headache is a minor set back. I know it's something I need to learn, but for now I think learning more actual coding will be more useful to me. Any good recommendations for new books? I really liked Agile Web Development, so I might look into something else by the Pragmatic Programmers. Not sure if Advanced Rails Recipes would be beyond me or not.