Accessing IIS via network help needed 1

[Falcon Ways]

Hi. I have never networked computers before, so am a complete novice.

I have two computers, one running Windows XP Home Edition, and one running Windows 2000 Server. The Win2K computer has IIS set up with about 5 different websites defined. The default website is named Ricom. The other websites run on different ports (1051, 1052, 1053 etc)

What i need is this. 1) I have to be able to map a network drive from the XP machine to the Win2K machine. 2) I have to be able to view the websites from the XP machine using the address

http://Ricom:1051

etc.

I have connected the two computers using a reverse ethernet cable. Both computers are using a Workgroup (not a domain) called HOME. Doing this, I have successfully managed to map a network drive. For a little while, i was also able to view the websites, so everything was cool. However, i have since done something on the XP machine, and no longer can view the websites.

Can anyone tell me if a) i have set this up correctly and b) a possible reason why i cannot view the websites from the XP machine.

Incidently, I can view the websites fine directly from the Win2K machine.

 

[markdmac]

Did you recently install XP SP2? Try disabling the firewall temporarily to see if you can access the sites.

Can you ping Ricom by name from the XP Home box?

As a side note, I think you are making life tough on yourself. If you implement host headers on your web sites you would not need to use the port numbers and could keep all sites on Port 80.

I hope you find this post helpful. Please let me know if it was.

Regards,

Mark

 

[Falcon Ways]

Thanks Mark. I will try that when i get home. (at work at the moment)

 

[Falcon Ways]

Well, Pinging Ricom was successful. No problem there. Just cannot view the websites.

 

[markdmac]

If you just go to

http://ricom

do you get the default web site?

I hope you find this post helpful. Please let me know if it was.

Regards,

Mark

 

[Falcon Ways]

I am not sure why, but after leaving the Win2K machine off over night and trying again this morning, everything appears to be working again.

thanks for your help.

 

[Falcon Ways]

Just out of interest, how do you use headers. I see the HTTP header tab in IIS, but do not really know what value to put in them

 

[markdmac]

Headers allow you to give a friendly name to each website and have each use the same IP address and same port.

Let's say your IP is 192.168.1.5
let's also say you have 5 sites in total (default + 4) labeled site2, site3, site4, site5.

You would create DNS entries like this:

RICOM 192.168.1.5
SITE2 192.168.1.5
SITE3 192.168.1.5
SITE4 192.168.1.5
SITE5 192.168.1.5

Now in you IIS:
So, your default web page would be the machine name

http://ricom

(default port 80)

Go to properties of Site2 Select the IP 192.168.1.5 and click advanced.

Click Add to add a host header and type Site2 and use port 80.
If this server is accessible over the Internet too, then click Add again and type Site2.FQDN (Example Site2.MyCompany.com)

Do this for each of the additional sites. When a browser sends a connection request to the IIS server it includes the name of the site it wants and the header will kick in. The only time this does not work is if your user types the IP address directly, then they will get the default site. If you use host headers on the default site as well, then they would get a 404 Page Not Found Error if they were trying to be sneaky and use the IP.

Obviously, the true value to doing this is being able to use port 80 for more than one site which makes life easier on your users.

I hope you find this post helpful. Please let me know if it was.

Regards,

Mark