Server behind XP's ICS only reachable within LAN using IP#?

 
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Lawrence
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2003 9:31 am    Post subject: Server behind XP's ICS only reachable within LAN using IP#? Reply with quote

Well I've searched the forum a few times and found related problems, but I wanted to get another opinion if I could.

I'm running the Abyss server on my LAN on a system with the IP 192.168.0.102. The outside world can reach it using the domain name example.whatever.net but users WITHIN the LAN cannot view it without resorting to the numeric IP (192.168.etc).

Windows XP's connection sharing handles routing duty with aplomb for outside users, but inside the LAN users are shafted. Is there a workaround? I can't use the hosts file edit for a quick fix, if indeed that would work, because my FTP server runs on a different machine in the LAN. Editing the hosts file would point all requests to the web serving machine, would they not?

What's the limiting factor here? Is it an XP problem? Is it a design issue with Abyss? Am I doing something no one else ever thought to do? =)

I look forward to any ideas!
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2003 8:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm having the same problem.
From inside the LAN my website can only by pulled up by numeric IP address and not by domain name, form outside the LAN everybody can pull up my website by using the domain name.
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Lawrence
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Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 207
Location: Brisbane, AU

PostPosted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 5:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

From all the research I've been doing (and most of the answers were indeed found on these very forums) this is just what we'll have to live with if we're using connection sharing and have the server on a machine inside the LAN (not the connection sharer). This is a problem easily solved by editing your hosts file (see below) but be aware this directs ALL LAN requests for the domain name to the webserving box. This wasn't really my preferred plan of attack until I gave it some thought and found that all my other services (FTP, mail serving) can point to a numeric IP for the sharing box with only a few quick changes. Done and done!

In more detail, what this results in is all requests to your domain NAME from WITHIN the LAN are routed to the web serving box on your LAN. This is handy because typically there's a lot of different addresses used on a web server (directories, files, images). You can point to other boxes from your LOCAL machine using the numeric IP, but to the outside world no changes are required. For them all your servers (FTP, mail, whatever) can still be resolved using the mail/ftp.domain.name address, and your sharing box will handle them without issue. That is to say if they worked before changing your hosts file won't affect that. Your own internal requests will have to be pointed to the NUMERIC IP, unless they're also on the webserving box you indicated in the hosts file.

I suppose it's a long winded, unclear and confusing post, but it made sense at the time.

To change your hosts file in Windows 95/98/Me:
Edit a file called \windows\hosts (just hosts, no extension) and follow the directions in that file. Typically it'll be something like
192.168.xxx.xxx www.domain.name
where xxx.xxx = the number of your webserving box, and www.domain.name = your domain name.

To change your hosts file in Windows XP/2k:
Edit a file called \windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts (just hosts, no extension) and follow the directions in that file. Same as above.

This assumes you've gotten windows' connection sharing passing port 80 (web) requests to the proper box, something I'm not going to cover here.

Lawrence.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 4:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

THANK YOU VERY MUCH LAWRENCE!!
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