Linux 7.3 DNS and Vertual Hosting with DSL

[Jeff Lasman]

steve wrote:

> Dazed and confused here.

We've all been there.  Sometimes I'm still there <smile>.

I don't think any of this is really a DNS issue, but it might be, and if
not, then you need to know why not, so I'm trying to answer you here...

> I have a DSL external router Connection with a Static IP and I want to try
> to do Virtual Hosting.

There are millions of reasons I wouldn't do it, beginning with two: my
DSL connection was down twice within the last week; over an hour each
time, and both times customer service told me that they'd either get it
back up within 24 hours, or schedule a service visit within two days. 
After wasting an hour of my time proving to them it wasn't me.  They
assured me that if I switched to a "business grade" DSL account (I have
regular DSL service) then they'd be able to sell me monitoring and a
guaranteed two hour repair time.  Since my downtime hasn't been over two
hours, what I'd be buying for over an extra $100 each month is the right
to get a small part of it back if there ever was an outage over two
hours.

DSL just isn't made for hosting... the technology works, but it's sold
as a low-priced, low-priority product.

That said... let's see if I can help you.

> My DSL provider has setup a www.dsl.com address for me and it hits my web
> server Page 1.
> My DSL  provder has also given me a static ip which hits the same web server
> page 2
> I purchased my first Domain name have them forwarding to my Static ip
> address and it hit page 2 not page 3.

I'm confused by what you mean by "pages".  Are these three separate
websites, or are they pages within one website?

Presuming you use Apache, have you set it up for virtual hosting?  Do
you have virtual host containers in /etc/htpd/conf/httpd.conf?

I'm presuming you have one static network-routable IP number; for the
purpose of this reply, I'll call that a routable IP#.

> What I found was that it comes in to my box with that static ip name in the
> header and not my domain name so virtual hosting is not working.

What do you mean?  Current browsers always return the domain name as
typed into the browser.

Let's define your network as the systems you have served by your DSL
line.  And the public Internet as the rest of the world, including me.

Going back to the scenario you mentioned above, for the three different
pages you want displayed...

Have you tried the three scenarios from inside your network?  If so,
exactly what have you typed into your browser for each of these
scenarios?  For each of these scenarios, from inside your network,
exactly what did you expect to get?  What did you get?

Have you, or has someone else, tried the three different scenarios from
outside your network, from the public Internet?  If so, exactly what
have you (or what has some other person) typed into the browser for each
of these scenarios?  For each of these scenarios, from the public
Internet, exactly what did you expect to get?  What did you get?

> I would like my new domain name to hit a 3rd page but can't get that to
> work.

Some "real" information we (I and others) could use for testing would
reallly help; without real numbers and domain names to check, it's
unlikely we can really help.

> I was told I need to setup DNS on my machine which I have done according to
> a How_to

I don't think it would make any difference as long as the domains have
DNS properly set up somewhere.  Did you set up zonefiles for your
domains on any of these domains?  Do you have anyone/anywhere else
serving DNS for them?  In fact... What are the domains?  I ask so we can
check ourselves.

> The How to does everthing with the internal IP blocks.  how do I get my
> server seen on the net without causeing problems to the world.  If my server
> is called test1 with an ip of 10.0.0.5 do I have to worry about someone else
> in the world haveing the same name?

What you're calling internal IP blocks are nonroutable; so you and I can
both have them.  But DNS served to the outside world must have
Internet-routable IP#s.  And somehow you have to get the IP# into your
system.  Do you have multiple systems on your DSL line?  Are they behind
a router?  Or some kind of switch or hub?  Or a proxy server?

Have you read any How-To on vertual website hosting?

> Can my Static IP have more then one domain name attaced to it?

Yes.

> How do I create the Name Servers my new Domain is looking for so I can route
> them to me.  Or Do I need to have my DSL provider do that?

You need to have at least two DNS servers to register your domain name. 
They need to be authoritative for your domain.  Ideally they should be
on separate networks, and ideally neither should be on a DSL network.

> I thought the web was based on IP not named servers so I am really confuse
> and affraid I have this wrong.

I think it was http version 1.1 that allowed for name-based hosting, but
I could be mistaken.

Please answer some of my questions, so we can help you narrow this down
to DNS, or some other problem.

Thanks.

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Lasman, nobaloney.net, P. O. Box 52672, Riverside, CA  92517 US
Internet & Unix/Linux/Sun/Cobalt Consulting +1 909 778-9980
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