DNS subdomain to Apache2 virtual directory ??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve Grosz
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Steve Grosz

I have a IIS6 DNS server that I have my domain and subdomain on. The
domain points to a IIS server, and the subdomain I would like to point
to a Apache virtual directory (as its running PHP).

I have the DNS subdomain pointing to a internal IP of 192.168.1.126, and
have given the virtual directory in Apache the same IP.

I can get to the site on the subdomain fine on my internal network, but
outside users can't get in. They get a:


Cannot find server or DNS Error


I can do a nslookup and tracert for the subdomain, and both resolve
correctly.

What am I doing incorrectly here?

Thanks!
Steve
 
There are a lot of parts to this, and DNS is only one piece of it. Without knowing how your firewall and public/private DNS are
configured it is impossible to say what your exact problem is.

So without getting into a long discussion, you should understand that outside users will only be able to access your Apache site if
two things are correct:

1) The public Internet DNS system must resolve the subdomain name you are using to a public IP address that is yours. For example,
if the name is www.subdomain.mydomain.com, then that has to resolve to a >public< IP address that gets routed to your firewall.

This is why it is difficult to use an internal DNS as a public DNS because the addressing on your LAN for the name is different --
so if you are trying to use your inside DNS also as your public DNS you likely have a problem.

2) Your firewall must be mapping that public address+port 80 and/or 443 to the correct, corresponding private LAN address that gets
to your Apache web server. This can be port-mapped NAT overloading (aka "port forwarding" or "pinhole mapping"), or it can be a
straight 1-to-1 public-to-private IP translation, but it has to exist in your firewall or router for the public side to communicate
with it.

If you only have a single public IP address you thus have a problem since you have two different web servers that both need to be
contacted on port 80. In that case you can direct all traffic to one web server and use a virtual site or redirection or host
headers to handle the subdomain access. This is more of an IIS question than DNS (and these are two entirely independent subsystems
BTW.)

Feel free to post back with more details if this isn't enough to get it solved.

Steve Duff, MCSE, MVP
Ergodic Systems, Inc.
 
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