problems with exchange/IIS/DNS server 1

[headrush]

Im pretty much a newbie dealing with exchange, IIS and DNS.
I set up exchange with IIS and also running DNS off of this one server unprotected in a DMZ. When i type in the URL for OWA I log on fine to get my email and when I type in

http://www.mydomain.com

(the domain names are changed), it works fine, but if I type in

http://mydomain.com

(omitting the www) I get a logon screen that asks me to authenticate. Then when I log in it tells me that my site is under construction. Now if I go other sites and type in

http://theirdomain.com

(again omitting the www) it takes me to their website. I was wondering what config I have to change (Im thinking in DNS)to get my site to run like that.

Thanks,
Headrush

 

[tom11011]

Hi there, this is easily solved.

In dns, under your

http://www.whatever.com

domain name for your website, you probably created a

http://www host

for your website pointing to the proper ip.

Simply create a new host record under your domain name that is blank, and assign it the ip address of your website.

Also, in IIS under your webdomain, add a host header for domain.com and it's ip.

hope that helps.

 

[headrush]

Thanks.

Ill give a try...

 

[headrush]

tom11011

thanks for you help. i followed your instructions and everything fired right up. Thanks a bunch.

One more quickie if you have a chance-
Right now this exchange server is also running IIS, DNS, and is a domain controller (DC). I also have my website temporarily running off of IIS. I want to bring exchange, IIS (including my website) and the DC inside my firewall. Do I also need an outside exchange server to relay messages to my inside box or can this all be done with one exhange box? What do I have to do with DNS and/or my firewall to point to an exchange/IIS server which is located inside a private domain? I basically have 4 computers (one is my linux firewall running NAT and IPtables) and would like to use them as efficiently as possible yet still protect them from the outside world (because Im pretty sure thats how the real world has this set up).
If there are any articles on Microsoft's website or any other site detailing this please post the URL.

Thanks again!!!

Thanks again!!!

 

[tom11011]

Sure, you can bring everything inside the firewall without any worry, including your email. For your setup, these are the ports you will need to forward.

smtp port 25 for email
pop3 port 110 for email

http://www port

80 for web
dns port 53 for dns (note: both tcp and udp ports need open)
ftp port 21 if you need ftp

Point your dns to the real ip addresses. Those real addresses will get translated at the firewall.

Note: Some clients I have worked for with cisco setups can't see there own sites from the inside because of NAT but everyone on the outside is ok. This is rare and probably won't apply to you. So, if things are not working, make sure to test from a dialup before you pull your hair out.

Let me know how it turns out.

 

[headrush]

I should have it all up and running by this weekend. Ill get back to you when its working. Thanks again.

 

[headrush]

ok i brought everything inside my firewall and gave access to the specified ports. everything works fine except for SMTP. I have mail stuck in the queque. I have one DNS server on the outside (standalone server) and one DNS server on the inside (Domain controller runnning active directory). the inside DNS server is configured for forwarding to the external DNS server. Im pretty sure its a DNS issue. What do i have to configure on the outside and inside DNS servers to make this work. Im pretty sure Im missing a DNS entry somewhere along the line.....
and do i have to set up replication between the two servers or is forwarding internal to external enough.

please help its 1:30am and I cant sleep because I want to figure this out.

Thanks,

headrush
soon to be headache

 

[tom11011]

Who is your isp and are you sure they do not block port 25? I know for sure earthlink does.

What errors are the rejections showing? (You may have to turn down the time period for exchange to finally give up trying to send, default setting could keep it in the que for days).

 

[headrush]

i use pacbell. everything was working fine outside my firewall on my DMZ but now that its behind it seems to me that my internal workstation cannot resolve the mail.mydomain.com (internal dns server/exchange server). i have DNS running inside forwarding requests to my public DNS server. The error im getting in outlook express is:

The connection to the server has failed. Account: 'your_account',
Server:'your_POP3_server', ProtocolOP3, Port: 110, Secure(SSL): NO,
Socket error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800ccc0e

i have all the ports you listed above open on my firewall and my external DNS server is pointing to the public address of my firewall which in turn should forward the requests to the private address of the exchange server.

When i try to use :telnet mailserver.mydomain.com 25 or 110 it hangs and cannot connect. if i do this from an internal workstation and use the private ipaddress of that same server the ports open right up and i can telnet in.

i think it may be a combination of my firewall and DNS entries. is there any way that you can maybe show me a sample of dns entries that have to be made in an internal and external dns server showing how an internal dns server can point to an internal exchange sever and how an external dns server can point to the same internal exchange server. should i have mx records in both dns servers for the same exchange server---one with the internal address and the other with the external address?

im starting to confuse myself...

thanks

 

[tom11011]

I suspect it's your firewall/nat. What do you use for firewalling?

Can you telnet to the ip address on port 25 instead of the fully qual domain? If not, I suspect firewalling is the issue. Can you ping from the outside? Generally, smtp isn't used for the inside connection with exchange.

 

[headrush]

it finally works but all i had to do was change the MX record to mydomain.com instead of mail.mydomain.com and it started resolving to my address. i have like 50 emails that i thought disappeared into limbo now appear in my inbox. AMAZING. One little change did all of that... Can you explain why that is so...


thanks again tom,

headrush

 

[brontosaurus]

Did you have an A record for mail.mydomain.com? And if you did, was it pointing at the same IP as mydomain.com?

 

[tom11011]

yes, if you create an A record for mail.mydomain.com and then create the mx record to point to that, that is fairly common. So, in the absence of a MX record, I think it will attempt to default to domain.com

 

[headrush]

Sorry for the late reply....

I just redid my MX record and changed some entries on my DNS server and it all came up fine. Im not 100% sure why but Im not gonna break it just yet to figure it out. Thanks for all of your help. Your advice has saved me millions (slight exaggeration) in books and in time trying to find out some of these answers. Thanks again....

HR