Topic: Virtual domain issue

[Lee]

Hello,

I have been using E-smith for over 6 months now now without any problems
with virtual domains.  I have setup many servers using E-smith
in server only mode (no gateway).  Virtual domains work without any problems.  

Now the problem is this --
when setting up servers in server AND gateway mode and
configuring the static IP's like I've always done, virtual domains
don't work!  Seems like I've tried everything including:
- double checked all connections and static IP addresses
- "Test internet connection" passes
- Entered static IP directly into a browser just to make sure
the server can be reached externally
- Double checked e-smith server and gateway configurations
- Allowed over a week for the static IP to be assigned to the
domain name

In short, virtual domains work for me in SERVER only mode
but when trying server and gateway mode, they don't work!
I'm driving myself crazy!  Any clue at all would be appreciated!

Lee

[Peter Hollandare]

Lee,

I have been trying to get this to work to, without any luck. If you manage to get this to work, i'm wery interested to know how.

//Peter

[Lee]

I wonder if the e-smith gods could bless us and offer
some advice on this fundamental problem.  The documentation
is great....but I'm at wits end!  

Could someone take a minute and point us in the right direction?


Lee

[Graeme Robinson]

Lee,
I think why you haven't got any replies is because you haven't clearly explained the problem.

>Now the problem is this --
>when setting up servers in server AND gateway mode and
>configuring the static IP's like I've always done, virtual domains
>don't work!

Please state what isn't functioning. eg. I can't recieve mail for the virtual domain, or the virtual domain website isn't visible, etc.  Without that information it's tough to help.

[Lee]

Ok.

The virtual domain on the server and gateway computer
is not visible from the internet.  I have not tried email yet....
just website hosting.

It is only visible from a local computer that has a DHCP connection
to the server and gateway computer.

From the internet when I type:

http://www.thisismyvirtualdomain.com

the server does not serve .html pages to the public.  I get
a server not found message.

On the private network, yes, the page will show when typing
http://www.thisismyvirtualdomain.com

It WILL work on the internet if I use the static ip followed by
the ibay name:
ie.
http://216.62.206.11/thisismyvirtualdomain

I have made sure that thisismyvirtualdomain.com
has my E-smith server's static IP setup domain assigned
to it.

Please let me know if I could clarify my description.

Lee

[Graeme Robinson]

Lee wrote:

>The virtual domain on the server and gateway computer
>is not visible from the internet. I have not tried email yet....
>just website hosting.

Then probably you are not using a properly configured domain name.  The virtual domains must point to the static IP address of your server - the same IP address as your primary domain.

The fact that it works on your local net proves that virtual domain hosting is working as the local net pc's look to your e-smith server-gateway (ESSG) for DNS lookup.  

But the e-smith DNS is local only (for very good reasons) and you need to delegate the virtual domains somewhere else (eg your ISP's DNS) and have them point to the correct static IP for your ESSG for computers on the wider internet to know they should look at your ESSG for the virtual domain website (and possibly as a mail destination).

[Lloyd Keen]

Lee,
Did you actually purchase the domain "thisismyvirtualdomain.com" and if so have you setup the hosts for www ftp etc in the domain management section of your DNS provider. Instead of typing www.thisismyvirtualdomain.com just try typing thisismyvirtualdomain.com and see if that works, if so you need to create a www host with your dns provider.

[Lloyd Keen]

>Did you actually purchase the domain "thisismyvirtualdomain.com"
Skip that question. I didnt read your earlier post properly. I need some sleep

[Peter Hollandare]

What Lee tries to explain is exactly what i have been trying to do.

Virtualadress.mydomain.com, where virtual adress points to another IP adress, and actrually takes THE user (yeah it works locally,but NOT from outside the LAN).

I'm aware that the host MUST point to your IP (set up where you bought and registered your domain), still it doesnt work.

Let me be more specific.

Videostore at my town buys a redirect service from me, and i add him as follow
videostore.kortedala.net (which points to my perm static ip at 194.236.50.15), should be redirected to their server eg. 212.213.214.215 <- fake ip but used as sample.

where www.kortedala.net, mail.kortedala.net, irc.kortedala.net allways points to direct to my static IP.

So the problem is mainly : videostore.mydomain.net works locally ONLY.

I'm i clear enough? :>

[Lee]

Peter,

My situation is a little different.  You are interested in pointing
the xxx in http://xxx.yyy.com

I simply want the yyy in http://www.yyy.com to be reachable
from the internet!  I think Graeme Robinson's advice clarifies
that the DNS setting in ESSG is important and that it CANNOT
BE the ESSG's DNS if I want to serve public web pages.

Graeme, correct me if I am wrong, I must set the DNS
setting on ESSG to what my ISP has provided when they gave me
my static IP addresses.  Also, I have already set my domain
name registry information to have my static IP as the domain
name server.  Is that all?  I will try this again.  My failed attempts
was with ESSG set as the DNS server which explains why private
web pages were served but not public.

Lee

[Lloyd Keen]

Lee,
Have you tried just typing in "thisismyvirtualdomain.com" - nothing else? You do not need to enter any DNS settings when configuring ESSG. If you can pull up ip/virtualdomain then you should also be able to pull up virtualdomain.xxx
Peter in your case the host will not be pointing your e-smith box, rather it should be setup to use stealth redirection or IP pointing to the video store's server. So kortedala.net will point to your e-smith box but the host "videostore"should be pointing at the videostore's IP address and the host www will point at your e-smith box.

[Lee]

Lloyd,

Yes, I have tried "thisismyvirtualdomain.com" and nothing else.
It did not work.

For setting up ESSG in SERVER only mode, I can get the
virtual domain web pages to display FINE over the public internet.

My problem is with ESSG in SERVER and GATEWAY mode
-- I cannot get virtual domain web pages to display over the public internet
just the private network works.  I must be doing something fundamentally
wrong (even after double checking my static IP and everything
else listed in my posts above.)

Another note, after re-reading the ESSG documentation, I believe
Lloyd is correct that entering any DNS information is unnecessary,
which puts me back to square one!  This makes Graeme's post above
confusing, "But the e-smith DNS is local only (for very good reasons) and you need to delegate the virtual domains somewhere else (eg your ISP's DNS"

What does Graeme mean to "delegate the virtual domains somewhere else"?
I've set the domain name to have my static IP.  I've set the virtual domain
to point to a public i-bay.  I just want the yyy in http://www.yyy.com to point
to my ESSG i-bay (public internet) and have a gateway for other computers to access the internet.


Lee

[Lloyd Keen]

Lee,
Who do you use to do your domain management stuff. If you haven't seen them before have a look a mydomain.com They are absolutely awesome. The steps I take are.
1. Buy a domain from namesdirect.com (affiliated with mydomain.com) no need to change any dns settings for the domain.
2. goto mydomain.com and add the domain to any others that I have, then create the hosts as required www or ftp etc.
3. On e-smith create the i-bay that will house the new domain
4. then create the new virtual domain on e-smith

[Lee]

Lloyd ,

Thanks for the mydomain.com services suggestion.
I use them too and they ARE a great and free service.

However, my ESSG problems should be solvable!
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Lee

[Tyrone Miles]

Hummmmm, I am using e-smith to host and I am using it as a gateway at home and I have not had any problems with e-mail or web serving for my primary site or the virtual sites. I will write down the steps I use to set up my virtual domains and maybe this will help if you are still having a problem..

First off I do not use my ISP’s DNS for anything it just causes problems.. I leave my server free of DNS info it does it’s own DNS lookups. ISP’s fiddle with their DNS servers too darn much.

Anyway I purchase my domain names from 000domains.com, after that I go to www.zoneedit.com to set up my free DNS account to host my domain name.. I add the name to my DNS account and point the names to my static IP 4 ways : www.mydomain.com, mail.mydomain.com, mydomain.com and ftp.mydomain.com . Then I go back to 000domains.com and use the DNS servers that zoneedit gives you as the primary and secondary DNS servers for your domain name.

After that I make a new user group on my e-smith server to hold the accounts for the users that need to access the new domain. Then I make a new Ibay and give access to the new Ibay to that new group. Then I make whatever new users I need to make for e-mail purposes etc.  

Then I add my domain to the virtual domain area and point it to the new Ibay I made and that is it..

So far the only problem I have had is that using anything other then www.mydomain.com will point to the primary website but www.mydomain.com points to the Ibay I have set up! I don’t know why that happens and it does not always happen.

But I hope this is of some help..  Oh and 000domains.com is cool cause they are fast and you control your account through their web interface and never have to deal with the company unless you have a problem.  And zoneedit is the same all web administer and you can host 5 domains for free plus set up web and e-mail forwarding, web parking etc.