DNS setup for domain

[blarneyme]

At home I registered a domain (mydomain.info) and have enabled FreeDNS and the registrar (namecheap) updates the IP address correctly. However, when I try to access the site externally it times out making me think it's a DNS issue.

The setup is using OpenSolaris and using their zones and virtual networking:

Linksys ---> nginx reverse proxy ---> apache web server

Linksys is 192.168.1/24
nginx is doing DHCP on the external interface and getting something like 192.168.1.2 and the internal nginx interface is 192.168.2.1
Apache interface is 192.168.2.2

I have simplified it to get it working because originally I had:

Linksys ---> ipfilter firewall ---> nginx reverse proxy ---> apache

I took out the ipf firewall to see if it was my firewall rules blocking access but it hasn't helped. I have also plugged the Cox link directly into the nginx external interface so it wouldn't go through the Linksys router but to no avail.

On the Linksys router I have tried to set port forwarding for http and have also setup the DMZ access but neither of those work either.

My preference is ipfilter --> nginx --> apache

Any ideas why I'm not getting external access and only internal access to my website?

 

[Noway2]

There are several things that need to be correct in order to do what you are attempting, but none of them are excessively complex. I suggest that you try focusing on getting each piece working and build the system up as you go.

1 - you have a domain which you refered to as mydomain.info. Use nslookup to see if you get the PUBLIC IP address that you are assigned. This should be the same IP address of you cox cable(?) modem. It will NOT be 192.168....

2 - The cable modem should be on the wan port of your linksys and your server on the lan port. You will either need to configure the linksys to do port forwarding to open up certain ports OR place an IP address in a DMZ. Using the port forwarding is the safer mode as it will provide some protection.

3 - Your server will need to be assigned to the LAN IP address that the incomming traffic is forwarded to. Normally you would want this server to have a static IP on your LAN so that the queries can always go to it.

4 - You will need to have something listening on the server to incomming connections. I suggest an SSH server, at least temporarilly. This would normally use port 22, which will need to be opened to try this. You should be able to SSH into the server first from your lan and then by the PUBLIC IP and by the domain name.

Once you get this going, you know that the server is accessible from the outside.

5 - Start by skipping the IP firewall and the reverse proxy. Your router should be forwarding to your server. So the next thing would be to get apache running and have a virtual host setup. Verify that you can access the page via localhost, by the lan, and then by the public IP and domain name in that order.

6 - once you have this going, you can put your ip firewall and / or reverse proxy back in place. Change one thing at a time so that if it breaks you know why. I think you are running into a case trying to do too much in one step. Break it down.