DNS Question 2

[zoeythecat]

Hi All,

We currently upgraded our NT4 network to Windows2000 Server and kept the same Internal DNS name as our External DNS name. I added a host record to point to the ISP's external record and users can resolve to ==>

http://www.xxxxxx.org<

but when they enter ==>xxxxx.org< they do not hit the page because when you ping to this >xxxxx.org< it pings to the Internal DNS. So users can get to the external page by typing ==>

http://www.xxxxxx.org<

but not to the >xxxxxx.org (leaving out the

http://www).

Is there a record you can enter in DNS that will help users connect externally by hitting >xxxxx.org< without messing up the internal DNS?

Thanks in advance for any help,
Zoey

 

[Claudek]

To be honest it looks messy even if it was possible to get the users to do xxxxx.org and go the the external site. Reason is xxxxx.org is your AD domain and AD runs on DNS. With weired/hacked settings things are sure to go wrong in a big way sooner or later.
As for the

http://www.xxxxx.org,

In cases such as yours, I usually create a CNAME entry in the internal DNS with the external IP address of

http://www.xxxxx.org

in it. Just a different way to do what you have implemented already.

An interesting workround to your xxxxx.org problem is to enable your default website on your DNS server (most likely your DC) and have the index.html redirect any browser to the external

http://www.xxxxx.org

address. This is of course only valid if you are using xxxxx.org for browsing purposes.



Claudius (What certifications??)

http://www.iteq.com.au

 

[zoeythecat]

Thanks Claudek,

That explains it beautifully. I'm thinking it would be too much work and could cause some problems for a few users to be able to hit this without entering the WWW. Just curious. I already added a &quot;Host&quot; so users can hit the >

http://www.xxxxx.org>site

with no problem. Where would you add the &quot;CNAME&quot;? and what would this do for me with my current DNS configuration as it is now? Could I add the CNAME when there is already a host defined for this external address?

TIA

 

[Claudek]

I mentioned the CNAME as another way to do what you've already implemented. You would put the CNAME entry in the same location you created your Host entry. YOu do not need to use this as you already have a working entry.

Claudius (What certifications??)

http://www.iteq.com.au

 

[zoeythecat]

Ok Thanks.

 

[jutetrea]

I think this is the problem I'm having.. but not sure. Created a new Win2k Server, using their external web address as the domain name.
Domain name = xxxx.com

When users attempt to browse to

http://www.xxxx.com

they get &quot;server unavailable&quot;.

Now, what is this &quot;Host Record&quot;? A record in DNS? or a host file? Unfortunately I'm not in front of the server, otherwise I'd probably be able to figure it out.

Initially I'm just looking to see if this is the same problem, then I can do some research and try the answers already given.

I'll have to look up CNAME as well, not familiar with it.

I was under the impression (and I definitely could be wrong), but I thought it was a &quot;good&quot; thing to name your AD domain the same name as your external web domain to prevent external confusion... Is this primarily in the case where you are hosting your own web site? We outsource the webhosting currently (and probably forever).

Thanks,
jute

 

[Seaspray0]

What's the name of your web server? If your server is named &quot;bob&quot; then you can get bob.xxxx.com with no problems. The cname solves this. Just add a

http://WWW.xxxx.com

entry that points to bob.xxxx.com. There is a wizzard that will help you. Just right click in the dns zone, add new alias.

 

[zoeythecat]

Jutetrea,

From DNS, right click on your domain, then select &quot;New Host&quot;. Enter the IP Address of your external webpage. You then will be able to browse to

http://www.xxxx.com

I did the same thing and have no problems going to

http://www.xxxx.org

I just have a problem hitting the page by just typing ==>xxxxx.org

Some users are just lazy and don't want to have to type the www

Hope this helps.

 

[Claudek]

Jutetrea,
Basically in your forward lookup zone in DNS you will see a whole unch of Host records. You can right-click on the zonename and Select New ->CNAME
Create a record called

http://www and

put in the ip address of your external website. As both your AD and Internet domain name is same, just leave the domain part blank. Note, the record name will be

http://www ,

not

http://www.sampledomain.com

(where sampledomain is your AD and external domain name).

Your clients will use your DNS which will forward DNS requests to your ISP as you've probably already configured. If they type in

http://www.sampledomain.com

(where sampledomain is your AD and external domai name), they will go to the web ip address you put into the CNAME entry.


Claudius (What certifications??)

http://www.iteq.com.au

 

[jutetrea]

Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it. I got lucky and was just reading a couple of posts before I started a random search and just came across this one.

I will say that setting up DNS was the biggest pain of setting up a new win2k server.

thanks again,
jute

 

[jutetrea]

OK, I've got a follow-up question:

What happens when the ISP hosting your site uses shared IP addresses? so if I ping my address and get an IP, then type the IP into the browser I get some silly Mindspring Hosting page.

The site is actually being hosted at Earthlink, and their tech support doesn't have a clue.

Is there some other method to allow my internal users to browse to an external website with the same domain as our internal AD network?

Thanks in advance for any help

jute

 

[ashpp]

>What happens when the ISP hosting your site uses shared IP >addresses? so if I ping my address and get an IP, then >type the IP into the browser I get some silly Mindspring >Hosting page.

Hi,

The webserver is probably virtual, this means that it hosts multiple websites on the same IP. Its uses header from ie to redirect to the correct webiste.

So when you go to

http://www.yoursite.com,

IE takes to the IP address and then sends

http://www.yoursite.com

to the server, it then gives out the correct page.

So - if you go the websites IP address directly it won't work. If you use the domain name it will. So the solutions here should work no problem.

 

[jutetrea]

Both solutions, CNAME and a new host, involve mapping an IP address. If I cannot get an IP address....

I can't use the domain name because it will just redirect to the server.

Will it work just to put an entry in hosts file? Although, again with no real IP address would that even work?

 

[ashpp]

> Both solutions, CNAME and a new host, involve mapping an >IP address. If I cannot get an IP address....

Sorry I don't understand, you've have already pinged the website and got an IP address ?? If so then you just need to place this IP address in DNS as a CNAME.

Or are you saying you have done this and it doesn't work?

 

[jutetrea]

correct, you can ping the site and get an IP, but it is a shared IP via earthlink. For instance, if you put the IP in a browser you are not sent to the correct website, but to a holding page for Mindspring web services.

Is the best bet just to change providers so I can just get a dedicated IP?

 

[ashpp]

In my previous post I've tried to explain that going to the IP address of a VWS (virtual webserver) won't work.

You need to enter the IP address into your DNS for it to work..... Otherwise the host headers won't pick up the correct website. So alias

http://www to

the IP address and test it.

 

[Claudek]

Jutetrea, as mentioned, It is very hard (maybe can't be done) to map a DNS entry to a virtually hosted website.

If you have a DMZ, you could forward the web request to a machine in the DMZ which had its primary DNS set to your external ISP address. This would then forward the request to your external website as normal.

The way this would work would be something along the line of setting a website on the machine outside of your network (Part of your DMZ preferable, though can be a standalone machine which is connected to your network but not part of your network, ie its IP address is in the same range as your network but not a member of your domain.
The DNS setting on this machine should be set to your external ISPs address.

Now the website's default page should be a blank page with this line straight after the <head> part
<meta http-equiv=&quot;Refresh&quot; content=&quot;0; URL=http://www.xxxx.com&quot;>

On your Internal DNS, you would have a Host record called

http://www which

points to the ip address of the machine you set the blank webpage on.

Should someone in your network now type in

http://www.xxxx.com

where xxxx is your domain name, your internal DNS will point them to the blank webpage which will then redirect them to your external

http://www.xxxx.com

as it uses your ISPs DNS server as primary.

A bit in-elegant but theory-wise, it should work.



Claudius (What certifications??)

http://www.iteq.com.au

 

[jutetrea]

Thanks,

I'll be heading into the site tomorrow. If it doesn't work right off, I'll look into having them change providers. I pay less per month for my hosting, and get a dedicated IP.

If it does work, great.

Thanks for all the help