Topic: How to use subdomains with SME 5.6

[milend]

Hi,
I want to be able to host several websites on one PC running  SME 5.6.
I want to be able to create and use subdomains in a form:
www.subdomain1.mydomain.com
www.subdomain2.mydomain.com
How can I achieve this with SME 5.6?
I created 2 i-bays and 2 virtual domains but I cant access them via
www.virtualdomain1.mydomain.com
www.virtualdomain2.mydomain.com

What am I missing here?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Milen

[Chaloner Hale]

Try www.mydomain.com/virtualdomain1 or www.mydomain.com/virtualdomain2.

Chaloner Hale

[Ed]

What do you get when you hit it with the web browser?

i.e. in IE navigate to http:\www.virtualdomain1.mydomain.com or
http:\virtualdomain1.mydomain.com

I do this all the time so what is the problem you are getting.?

Ed

[Boris]

If you are using your SME server as gateway/dns/dhcp server it should "just work" from internal LAN. To access those domains from outside (from internet) you need to configure 3rd party DNS service to point both domains(hosts) to your IP address.

[Milen]

Hi,
Thank you all for your  posts!

I'm using ADSL modem and my current SME 5.6 installation is
- "server and gateway. - dedicated"
- DHCP client disabled - I'm using static IP address.

Once I created i-bays and defined virtual domains I was able to access the folders them via:
www.mydomain.com/subdomain1
www.mydomain.com/subdomain2
and the default index.html page gets loaded.

What I expected to be able to do is to access them as:
www.subdomain1.mydomain.com
www.subdomain2.mydomain.com
Attempts to access them failed even from the internal LAN.

My guess is that my SME 5.6 server installation has no
DNS server properly configured.

If this is the case what can I do to fix the problem?

Thank you for your help in advance!

Regards:
Milen
P.S.
Here is my current SME configuration:
Review configuration through web server-manager:

Networking Parameters
Server Mode servergateway
Local IP address / subnet mask 192.168.163.1/255.255.255.0
External IP address / subnet mask xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/255.255.255.0
Gateway  
Additional local networks No additional networks defined
DHCP server enabled
Beginning of DHCP address range 192.168.163.65
End of DHCP address range 192.168.163.250
Server names
DNS server 192.168.163.1
Web server www.mydomain.com
Proxy server proxy.mydomain.com:3128
FTP server ftp.mydomain.com
SMTP, POP, and IMAP mail servers mail.mydomain.com
Domain information
Primary domain mydomain.com
Virtual domains subdomain1.mydomain.com
Primary web site http://www.mydomain.com

[boris]

Your workstations should be using SME as DNS server and should get DNS address from it  by DHCP or manualy.

[Milen]

Boris,
Thank you for your post!
Yes, my workstations are using DHCP and they are setup to "obtain DNS server address automatically" but still I cannot access subdomains like:
www.subdomain1.mydomain.com

I do have access to the subdomain only if I type in:
www.mydomain.com/subdomain1

I want to be able to host several web sites on my SME so, that's why I need to access
www.subdomain1.mydomain.com
not only from my internal LAN.

I do not see a way to setup/configure  DNS server through the SME web interface. Maybe it is not intended to be a public DNS server?

Milen

[Graeme Fleming]

Well I just tried this out on my 5.5u6 box and it worked first time.  I setup a test domain by adding the domain test.gfitc.com.au (not test only, you have to be explicit) to my system and pointing it to an ibay.  When I inspect the hostnames I get a full listing including thise items matching this domain; do you get this hostname list???

Once working you may want to look at Steven Nobles' (http://dungog.net/SME) advanced domain stuff for handling email etc - its commercial but dirt cheap and works a treat - I use a few of his modules and have had very few probs; SME6 compatible already!

HTH

[Graeme Fleming]

btw - SME is a caching DNS NOT a public DNS - use zoneedit to do your DNS stuff

[Boris]

>> Milen
I do not see a way to setup/configure DNS server through the SME web interface. Maybe it is not intended to be a public DNS server? >>

It is not a Public DNS (as stated in the manual you've read, right?)
What is why second part of me suggestion was

>>
Author: Boris (boris_AT_nospam.com)
Date:   11-16-03 02:23
.....
 To access those domains from outside (from internet) you need to configure 3rd party DNS service to point both domains(hosts) to your IP address.
...
>>>


3rd party DNS could be any free/paid internet DNS service providers.
The most known are dyndns.org, zoneedit, etc...

[Milen]

Boris,
Thank you for your help!
I understand what you are saying and I'll try using one of these free
DNS services for now.

Milen

[Boris Mann]

Actually, I can tell how this is confusing. Here are the steps, in order, that you need to do to add subdomains *with different content (ibays)*.

I've written up instructions on exactly what to do:
  http://www.bmannconsulting.com/node/view/699

Contact me if you're still having difficulties.

--
Boris Mann
http://www.bmannconsulting.com