Can't get to Web Server Outside of Network

[jwkh]

We cannot get to our Web server which is hosted outside
our network. Our Windows 2000 server is our DNS. When we
type in www.mycompany.com, we get page not found. We have
an internal Exchange server called exchange.mycompany.com
and the primary server for file, print, DNS and DHCP
called hughes.mycompany.com.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

jwkh

 

[Jeff Cochran]

We cannot get to our Web server which is hosted outside
our network. Our Windows 2000 server is our DNS. When we
type in www.mycompany.com, we get page not found. We have
an internal Exchange server called exchange.mycompany.com
and the primary server for file, print, DNS and DHCP
called hughes.mycompany.com.

Well, where does the www host record in your DNS for the mycompany.com
domain point? And can you get there on an IP alone?

Jeff

 

[jwkh]

I haven't made any changes for www on our DNS server --
don't really know DNS.

We can get to it by IP address.

jwkh

 

[Jonathan de Boyne Pollard]

JC> Well, where does the www host record in your DNS for
JC> the mycompany.com domain point?

j> I haven't made any changes for www on our DNS server --

Then that's your error.

<URL:http://homepages.tesco.net./~J.deBoynePollard/FGA/dns-split-horizon-common-server-names.html>

 

[jwkh]

I guess then, I have to make an entry of "www" (no quotes)
with the external IP address and check the PTR option?

Thanks for the info and URL.

jwkh

 

[Kevin D. Goodknecht [MVP]]

In

I guess then, I have to make an entry of "www" (no quotes)
with the external IP address and check the PTR option?

To clarify, the www record needs the IP address of the website and for the
option to add the PTR record is not relevant, you would need a reverse
lookup zone for the hosting company's IP addresses which may cause you
problems, especially if you have a mail server locally.

 

[jwkh]

Okay, I'm confused. Is there a Microsoft Q article that
explains this?

We have our Web site hosted outside our network. Our mail
server has always been inside the network but we recently
changed the name from mail to exchange (we used a third
party system before and just changed to MS Exchange). The
FQDN for our mail server is now exchange.mycompany.com.
But DNS outside our network still has mail.mycompany.com
pointing to our router/firewall's IP address. We get email
okay, but we cannot get to our outside Web page from
inside.

Thanks,

jwkh

 

[Kevin D. Goodknecht [MVP]]

In

Okay, I'm confused. Is there a Microsoft Q article that
explains this?

We have our Web site hosted outside our network. Our mail
server has always been inside the network but we recently
changed the name from mail to exchange (we used a third
party system before and just changed to MS Exchange). The
FQDN for our mail server is now exchange.mycompany.com.
But DNS outside our network still has mail.mycompany.com
pointing to our router/firewall's IP address. We get email
okay, but we cannot get to our outside Web page from
inside.

The web page is simple, the www record must point to the web site IP. If you
want to find out what IP to give the record use nslookup then use the change
server command so nslookup is using your ISP's DNS then resolve
www.mycompany.com nslookup will return the IP or CNAME record that your
public www record points to.

If this sounds too confusing and I know it can be, if you will post your
website name I will give you step by step directions.

As for the PTR record you referred to, reverse lookups are for the most part
only used by mail servers. Many mail servers are configured to receive mail
from mail servers that have a PTR record for their IP. If you create a
reverse lookup zone that conflicts with a public IP and your mail server is
configured to do reverse lookups on mail servers sending it mail your mail
server will be unable to do the reverse lookups on IP in that NetBlock and
will reject the mail.

 

[Kevin D. Goodknecht [MVP]]

In

Okay, I'm confused. Is there a Microsoft Q article that
explains this?

We have our Web site hosted outside our network. Our mail
server has always been inside the network but we recently
changed the name from mail to exchange (we used a third
party system before and just changed to MS Exchange). The
FQDN for our mail server is now exchange.mycompany.com.
But DNS outside our network still has mail.mycompany.com
pointing to our router/firewall's IP address. We get email
okay, but we cannot get to our outside Web page from
inside.

The web page is simple, the www record must point to the web site IP. If you
want to find out what IP to give the record use nslookup then use the change
server command so nslookup is using your ISP's DNS then resolve
www.mycompany.com nslookup will return the IP or CNAME record that your
public www record points to.

If this sounds too confusing and I know it can be, if you will post your
website name I will give you step by step directions.

As for the PTR record you referred to, reverse lookups are for the most part
only used by mail servers. Many mail servers are configured to receive mail
from mail servers that have a PTR record for their IP. If you create a
reverse lookup zone that conflicts with a public IP and your mail server is
configured to do reverse lookups on mail servers sending it mail your mail
server will be unable to do the reverse lookups on IP in that NetBlock and
will reject the mail.

 

[jwkh]

I REALLY appreciate your help. Our Web server is
www.hughesgroup.com. And as I said, it's NOT inside our
network.

Thanks,

jwkh

 

[Kevin D. Goodknecht [MVP]]

In

I REALLY appreciate your help. Our Web server is
www.hughesgroup.com. And as I said, it's NOT inside our
network.

Use the DNS snap in to expand your local server, expand Forward Lookup
Zones, then click on the hughesgroup.com Forward lookup zone to open it. In
the Action menu click "New host" in the dialog that comes up put www in the
name field, then 64.225.44.151 in the IP address field then click "Add
Host". Then in a command prompt run ipconfig /flushdns. You should then be
able to access the site from any machine using this DNS server by typing
www.hughesgroup.com in you browser.

W:\>nslookup
Default Server: kjweb.lsaol.com
Address: 192.168.0.2

www.hughesgroup.com.

Server: kjweb.lsaol.com
Address: 192.168.0.2

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.hughesgroup.com
Address: 64.225.44.151

 

[jwkh]

Thanks for your patience and responses. What's funny is
that I made that same entry about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I
immediately tried it and it didn't work. I had no idea
about flushing the cache -- that's something I'll never
forget!

Again, thanks a lot for your help.

jh

 

[Kevin D. Goodknecht [MVP]]

In

Thanks for your patience and responses. What's funny is
that I made that same entry about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I
immediately tried it and it didn't work. I had no idea
about flushing the cache -- that's something I'll never
forget!

That's right, negative entries are cached, too.