Website not showing within LAN 1

[Badgeroonie]

Since setting up our website on our registered domain name, it cannot be viewed from within the LAN, presumably because the domain name of the LAN and the website are the same.

Therefore, it seems to me that the server does not know to redirect the query outside of the LAN.

I need a pointer as to how to rectify this. From what I can see I need to configure IIS to make the link, but I have tried this to no avail. Any ideas anyone?

 

[ReddLefty]

Actually, the problem needs to be fixed in your DNS. You need to add a host (A) record that points to your current web server address.

example:

http://www.mydomain.com

= 100.100.100.100
Add a DNS record for

http://www =

100.100.100.100

More info:

When you ask for

http://www.mydomain.com,

your machine will look localy in your hosts and lmhosts amongst others to see if it can resolve the address. When it can't, it will send it to the primary DNS, hoping it can resolve it. The DNS will look up

http://www.mydomain.com

and when it can't find it, it will then send it to a forwarder DNS and it's is usually your providers DNS. When your DNS sees that mydomain.com is it's own domain, it will not forward the the request and simply return that the address does not exist because it won't be able to find it in it's tables. By adding the record, you are telling it that

http://www does

exist at 100.100.100.100 and that's where it will end up.



"In space, nobody can hear you click..."

 

[jasonk9]

I am having a slightly different problem.
Browsing to our externally hosted website is not a problem as we have a

http://www host

record pointing to the external IP. However, if we try to access our site without entering

http://www in

the url, the site is not reachable. If I run an nslookup it resolves the address to our dns server's IP address. If I run nslookup and point to an exteranl dns server is resolves properly.

Hope this made sense. Any thougts?

 

[aznluvsmc]

jasonk9, if your internal DNS maps

http://www to

the IP address of your Internet site then you must enter

http://www in

the URL. If you just enter the domain name without the www, then your DNS server will resolve that name to something else.

Steven S.
MCSA
A+, Network+, Server+, i-Net+

 

[jasonk9]

thanks Steven S. I understand what the issue is but I'm trying to find a work around so this will not happen. Is anyone aware of a way I can make this work?

 

[aznluvsmc]

So basically, you would users to just type in the domain name without the

http://www to

access the website? If so, you can try implementing host header names.

Steven S.
MCSA
A+, Network+, Server+, i-Net+

 

[WWWhiplash]

If its a Windows Server, setup a domain.com Website in IIS to redirect to another URL or the IP. If you host a website on it already don't forget to set a host header name.

 

[Badgeroonie]

ReddLefty - I have got the IP and confirmed that works by adding the address to the hosts file.....however, I'd rather not have to edit the hosts file on each machine.

Can I not make an entry in W2K DNS, or use IIS in some way? The settings in IIS appear to be ready for just this scenario. I only have a basic understanding of DNS (in case it wasn't obvious!) - I understand hosts files etc but have not edited the forward lookup zones etc in Active Directory before.

Many thanks

 

[ReddLefty]

I never mentionned modifying your HOSTS or LMHOSTS file. I meant that you need to add a "Host" (A Record) to your DNS server that will have an entry of "www" and the IP of your external web site.

It will work with your HOSTS and LMHOSTS because that's the first place the computer looks. If it's resolved at that level, it won't ask the DNS.

In short, go to your domain.com name in your DNS, right-click on the DOMAIN.COM and do Add Host...

Add

http://WWW in

the NAME field and add the external web site IP in the IP Address field.



"In space, nobody can hear you click..."

 

[lgarner]

Look in your DNS. If it's like mine, you have "domain.com" with each domain controller listed. That is by design. When workstations need to connect to "domain.com", they need to know where that is. It is any of the domain controllers.

The right way to do it has been suggested: create

http://www.domain.com.

Another way is to set up a web server on every domain controller to redirect to the real one. Maybe workable, but not my idea of the best way.

 

[Badgeroonie]

Thanks ReddLefty!

That sorted it out nicely