I bought a domain name, it resolves but shows my ip

[Tammy Sanders]

I am an amateur, running W2000 Pro and IIS serving htm, cfm, and php from my
home. I bought a domain name and it resolves correctly to my box, but when
the user arrives at my site, my IP address shows in their address bar. The
company I purchased the domain name from will 'cloak' the requests, but all
that does is wrap a frame around my site, which messes me up with some of my
scripts and doesn't allow a user to specify a subdirectory with the intial
request. Do I need to run a name server? Does W2000 Pro even have one?
Could it be because I am behind a (cheap) router and it doesn't have enough
options? Or maybe I need to bite the bullet and pay my ISP (not the same
company I bought the domain name from) for some service I don't get with a
generic account. Sorry I am so green, please help. At least give me the
name of a DNS for dummies-type book I can read to get a little riper (maybe
'DNS for Dummies'?).

Tammy

 

[Michael Johnston [MSFT]]

When you say that it shows your IP, are you saying the private IP is showing up in the browser causing the page to load incorrectly? This can happen if the
NAT router you are using is not correctly translating the HTTP part of the packet. For instance, when a request from a client comes in like
"http://www.mydomain.com", the proper form of this http request is actually "http://www.mydomain.com/". IIS will redirect the client to the proper URL. The
problem is that IIS, may redirect to it's IP instead, "http://<ip>/". Since the internal box has no knowledge of the external IP, the private IP is what is used. If the
NAT device doesn't translate this, then the client making the request tries to find "http://<privateIP>/", which will fail. A work around would be to make sure that
the internal IIS server doesn't return it's private address.

Thank you,
Mike Johnston
Microsoft Network Support
--

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[Jeff Cochran]

I am an amateur, running W2000 Pro and IIS serving htm, cfm, and php from my
home. I bought a domain name and it resolves correctly to my box, but when
the user arrives at my site, my IP address shows in their address bar.

That's the fault of the dynamic DNS service you're using. Either
change services to one that doesn't behave this way or get a static
IP.

Jeff

 

[Tammy Sanders]

When the user types in my domain name (ex-http://www.mydomainname.net) into
the address text area and clicks on <enter> it gets resolved to my external
IP correctly. As the user arrives at my site, the domain name they typed in
gets replaced in the address text area with my external IP address
(ex-http://123.234.345.456). This behavior, although acceptable in that it
allows people to find my site without needing to know the IP address, is not
aesthetically pleasing.

When you say that it shows your IP, are you saying the private IP is

showing up in the browser causing the page to load incorrectly? This can
happen if the

NAT router you are using is not correctly translating the HTTP part of the

packet. For instance, when a request from a client comes in like

"http://www.mydomain.com", the proper form of this http request is

actually "http://www.mydomain.com/". IIS will redirect the client to the
proper URL. The

problem is that IIS, may redirect to it's IP instead, "http://<ip>/".

Since the internal box has no knowledge of the external IP, the private IP
is what is used. If the

NAT device doesn't translate this, then the client making the request

the internal IIS server doesn't return it's private address.

Thank you,
Mike Johnston
Microsoft Network Support

rights. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at

http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm

Note: For the benefit of the community-at-large, all responses to this

message are best directed to the newsgroup/thread from which they
originated.

 

[Tammy Sanders]

I am an amateur, running W2000 Pro and IIS serving htm, cfm, and php from
my

That's the fault of the dynamic DNS service you're using. Either
change services to one that doesn't behave this way or get a static
IP.

Jeff

Ok, thanks. I guess I will need to pay my ISP the additional fee charged
for a static IP. I do have a dynamic IP and I update the address at the
site where I bought my domain name when it changes due to power outages that
last more than a few hours (only happened once this year). Yikes, I guess
the free ride is over.....

 

[Kevin Goodknecht]

In

Ok, thanks. I guess I will need to pay my ISP the additional fee
charged for a static IP. I do have a dynamic IP and I update the
address at the site where I bought my domain name when it changes due
to power outages that last more than a few hours (only happened once
this year). Yikes, I guess the free ride is over.....

What happens when you give the web site a host header?

 

[Tammy Sanders]

I am an amateur, running W2000 Pro and IIS serving htm, cfm, and

What happens when you give the web site a host header?
Kevin D4 Dad Goodknecht Sr. [MVP]

It quits working.
Tammy

 

[Kevin D. Goodknecht Sr. [MVP]]

In

It quits working.
Tammy

I guess that's not any good then, The problem lies with your dynamic DNS
provider. Maybe you should post who it is so those that use dynamic DNS
services will stay away.
On a side note, using host headers is also for security. It is not a good
deal for a web server to return it's IP address. There are worms out there
just looking for web servers that return their IP address.
What a IIS should return if you type in its IP address is "No web site is
configured at this address." Which is what it will return if the default web
site has a host header.

 

[Tammy Sanders]

I am an amateur, running W2000 Pro and IIS serving htm, cfm, and

I guess that's not any good then, The problem lies with your dynamic DNS
provider. Maybe you should post who it is so those that use dynamic DNS
services will stay away.
Kevin D4 Dad Goodknecht Sr. [MVP]

I've sent the gist of this thread to my DNS provider,
http://discountdomainregistry.com/ (I know, I know, with a name like that, I
should have known better). If they give a satisfactory solution, I will
follow up here and let you all know. Thank you very much for your kind
assistance.

 

[Tammy Sanders]

What kind of router is it?

I bought it from CompUSA (their house brand, a 'special', the only kind of
stuff I can afford), it doesn't show a brand name when you log into it -
just this: Multi-Functional Broadband NAT Router (R1.93s) . I have MAC
level access control enabled, 4 machines inside all mapped. Now I know I
can't post my address to you all, 'cause the EVIL ONES know too much about
my setup. I am blocking all inbound traffic except port 80, even discarding
PING from WAN (that isn't the problem is it?).

Are you running NAT?
Yes

Who is your provider?
http://discountdomainregistry.com/


The IP should point to your router.

It does

Cheap or not, they have the ability to
port-remap to an internal server. This is assuming you are running NAT on
the router. So if your outside IP is 123.123.123.123, then your A record in
DNS, the actual "www" record itself, would point to 1232.123.123.123. And if
using NAT, and the internal IP of your W2k Pro box is 192.168.1.2, then the
request comes to your outside IP on the router, then after setting up a port
remap, reamapping port 80 requests to go to your W2k Pro machine's
192.168.1.2 address, then it will work. That's pretty much it.

When the user types in my domain name (ex-http://www.mydomainname.net) into
the address text area and clicks on <enter> it gets resolved to my external
IP correctly. As the user arrives at my site, the domain name they typed in
gets replaced in the address text area with my external IP address
(ex-http://123.234.245.26). This behavior, although acceptable in that it
allows people to find my site without needing to know the IP address, is not
aesthetically pleasing. Also, I was not aware of the importance of a host
header, Kevin Goodnecht posted this on that note:
____________________________________________________
On a side note, using host headers is also for security. It is not a good
deal for a web server to return it's IP address. There are worms out there
just looking for web servers that return their IP address.
What a IIS should return if you type in its IP address is "No web site is
configured at this address." Which is what it will return if the default web
site has a host header.
________________________________________________________

Not sure about the "cloaking" thing, having not dealt with that, unless it
means something else?

I think it is their not-so-elegant solution to my problem, they create a
frameset on the fly with only one frame in it and said frame targets my
external IP (router) as it's source

Not sure what IP you mean is showing up. Does that mean it's a private IP
address (like the 192.168.1.2 address?)

No, the IP that shows up is the external IP (WAN)

I was thinking that maybe I needed to setup a DMZ and put the web server out
there, but now I don't think that is the solution (WHEW! I sure didn't want
to be under fire that way).
Thanks again for everyone's help, I am becoming convinced that I didn't save
any money by using a 'discount' domain registry.

Tammy

 

[Jonathan de Boyne Pollard]

AF> Not sure about the "cloaking" thing, having not dealt with
AF> that, unless it means something else?

It's a trick used to fool those who are too lazy to tell their web browser to
display frame contents in a new window. The web page at the published URL is
nothing but a frame around the "real" web page. Because web browsers only
display the URL of the main page in their address bars, and not the URLs of
the frames within them, the "real" URL of the "real" web site is "cloaked".

As a security mechanism (which the term "cloaked" implies), this is a pretty
useless idea.

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

In

I am an amateur, running W2000 Pro and IIS serving htm, cfm, and php
from my home. I bought a domain name and it resolves correctly to my
box, but when the user arrives at my site, my IP address shows in
their address bar. The company I purchased the domain name from will
'cloak' the requests, but all that does is wrap a frame around my
site, which messes me up with some of my scripts and doesn't allow a
user to specify a subdirectory with the intial request. Do I need to
run a name server? Does W2000 Pro even have one? Could it be because
I am behind a (cheap) router and it doesn't have enough options? Or
maybe I need to bite the bullet and pay my ISP (not the same company
I bought the domain name from) for some service I don't get with a
generic account. Sorry I am so green, please help. At least give me
the name of a DNS for dummies-type book I can read to get a little
riper (maybe 'DNS for Dummies'?).

Tammy

What kind of router is it?
Are you running NAT?
Who is your provider?

The IP should point to your router. Cheap or not, they have the ability to
port-remap to an internal server. This is assuming you are running NAT on
the router. So if your outside IP is 123.123.123.123, then your A record in
DNS, the actual "www" record itself, would point to 1232.123.123.123. And if
using NAT, and the internal IP of your W2k Pro box is 192.168.1.2, then the
request comes to your outside IP on the router, then after setting up a port
remap, reamapping port 80 requests to go to your W2k Pro machine's
192.168.1.2 address, then it will work. That's pretty much it.

Not sure about the "cloaking" thing, having not dealt with that, unless it
means something else?

Not sure what IP you mean is showing up. Does that mean it's a private IP
address (like the 192.168.1.2 address?). That cannot be in DNS for your www
record. That IP is not routable on the Internet. It needs to have the
external router's interface (the WAN) IP address.

--
Regards,
Ace

Please direct all replies to the newsgroup so all can benefit.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2000, MCSE+I, MCSA, MCT, MVP
Microsoft Windows MVP - Active Directory

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

In

It quits working.
Tammy

Well it depends on how you created the host header. Leave it as "all
assigned" and put the host header www.domain.com in there under the advanced
button. Then that will be the name to connect by.

--
Regards,
Ace

Please direct all replies to the newsgroup so all can benefit.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2000, MCSE+I, MCSA, MCT, MVP
Microsoft Windows MVP - Active Directory

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

In

I've sent the gist of this thread to my DNS provider,
http://discountdomainregistry.com/ (I know, I know, with a name like
that, I should have known better). If they give a satisfactory
solution, I will follow up here and let you all know. Thank you very
much for your kind assistance.

If you want Tammy, I could remote into your machine and set it up properly.
I don't think it may be the cause of your provider, at least not totally
convinced it is. Maybe a slight misconfiguration in IIS. Here's some links
on host headers and DNS that may help you to configure it properly on your
own at first to see if you can get it going:

315982 - HOW TO Configure DNS Records for Your Web Site in Windows 2000:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=315982
..
IIS Answers - How to create multiple websites with one IP address:
http://www.iisanswers.com/Top10FAQ/t10-hostheaders.htm

Using Host Headers to Allow for One I.P Address to Host Multiple Domains:
http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/ASPscripts/PrintPage.asp?REF=/webtech/080200-1.shtml

Good luck.--



Regards,
Ace

Please direct all replies to the newsgroup so all can benefit.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2000, MCSE+I, MCSA, MCT, MVP
Microsoft Windows MVP - Active Directory

 

[Jeff Cochran]

Ok, thanks. I guess I will need to pay my ISP the additional fee charged
for a static IP. I do have a dynamic IP and I update the address at the
site where I bought my domain name when it changes due to power outages that
last more than a few hours (only happened once this year). Yikes, I guess
the free ride is over.....

Maybe not. Try looking at other dynamic DNS providers. Your issue is
common, the dynamic DNS service gets the request for www.sample.com,
and redirects it to your current IP address. It should retain the URL
with domain name. More and more though, the dynamic DNS services
aren't doing a true dynamic DNS, they're using redirects to handle the
process, which re-writes the URL in the process.

Jeff

 

[Jeff Cochran]

Not sure about the "cloaking" thing, having not dealt with that, unless it

I think it is their not-so-elegant solution to my problem, they create a
frameset on the fly with only one frame in it and said frame targets my
external IP (router) as it's source

That's exactly your problem. This isn't DNS, it's a web server
redirecting through a frame to your IP.

Some dynamic DNS services aren't free anymore, but they're at least
pretty low cost. And they don't do this type of redirect. Try
Googling for services, look at them and find one which meets your
needs. On such service I'm familiar with is http://www.dynip.com/.
their Pro service, at about $60 a year, should meet your needs. There
are likely others and some may be free or less expensive.

FWIW, I believe your IIS and routing are correct, since everything
works except maintaining the domain in the URL. I wouldn't worry
about fooling with anything you can configure on your side.

Jeff

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

I see. Many sites do this. They have links in that when you click on them,
they open in another frame but the URL listed is still the original URL that
you connected to and not the actual 'new' link.

I thought it always best to display the link in the URL that the user is
being sent to and not the original.

--
Regards,
Ace

Please direct all replies to the newsgroup so all can benefit.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2000, MCSE+I, MCSA, MCT, MVP
Microsoft Windows MVP - Active Directory