accessing subdomain from outside network

[joelflorendo]

hi~
i have setup a subdomain website on my network (by creating a new website in IIS and then creating a Host A record on my DNS Server) which i can access inside my LAN. i want to be able to access the subdomain from outside my LAN however but it can't find the page when i type the url in my browser. does my ISP need to have an entry in their DNS servers that points to my subdomain? from the way i understand the heirarchal nature of domain names, it seems they shouldn't need to have this and that i should send requests to my domain and then let my DNS server handle what site to send the request.

 

[FaiTHLeSS]

Really depends on how your DNS server is configured, from what i can work out that your DNS server is not a public facing DNS server and is used LAN side only but i could be wrong you would really need to give more infomation about your setup.

Are you hosting your domain on your DNS Server? Is this a public facing DNS server so it can be queried from outside of your network?

If this isnt a public facing DNS server where is your domain being hosted for external requests? You would need to add the subdomain here for external queries to work to reslove to your webserver.

Another thing is your network setup so your webserver can be accessed externally? You might need to open up access for this or forward ports.

Also check the host header value for the site under the IIS snapin to cheak its correct.

 

[joelflorendo]

thanks for the reply. our domain is registered with our ISP on their DNS Servers but our own DNS server is not public. our main website can be reached from outside our network so i know that our ports are being forwarded correctly. i'm still a little unclear on many of the details of DNS. my understanding is that our ISP DNS servers point to our IP address when our domain is requested. should we have a public facing DNS server instead that handles these requests? if we don't, are you saying that i need to contact my ISP to have them make an entry for our subdomain in their DNS servers?

 

[FaiTHLeSS]

Yes you will need to contact your ISP if they host your domain name, you will need to get them to add any new A,CNAME records or subdomains you need to point to the correct IP, then make sure the new site you have created under IIS has teh correct host header value.

There is no need to have your DNS public facing if your ISP is hosting your domain for you.

 

[joelflorendo]

thanks for the info!!! i've been thinking i was doing something wrong on my end for a while now.