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DNS / Web Server Issues

I am having trouble setting up a DNS server and a web server. I can view the webpage using the IP Address, but not the domain name.

The IP Address of the website is 209.242.3.139
The static IP address on the maching int he network is 192.168.1.5
The domain name is bmedia-online.com
The domain is pointing to ns1.bmedia-online.com and ns2.bmedia-online.com

I think I have DNS configured somewhat correctly.
The active directory is bmedia-online.com

Inside of the active directory "Forward Lookup Zones" I have the following
(same as parent folder) Start of Authority (SOA)
(same as parent folder) Name Server (NS) ns1.bmedia-online.com.
(same as parent folder) Name Server (NS) ns2.bmedia-online.com.
ns1 Host (A) 192.168.1.5
ns2 Host (A) 192.168.1.5
bmedia-web Host (A) 192.168.1.5
(same as parent folder) Host (A) 192.168.1.5
www Alias (CNAME) bmedia-online.com.

I can supply screenshots if needed of everything on the system.

Thanks.

Sembee

Is the web site inside or outside your network?

If it is inside then you need to configure it with an internal IP address.
The entry for www looks wrong. Why did you configure it with an ALIAS?

You don't have an entry in your dns for (same as parent folder) with the IP address of the web site, so www will not work.

Simon.

jacobbeckley

ASKER

The web site is in our network.

I do have it configured through TCP/IP as a static IP address (192.168.1.5)

I do not understand what you mean by your last statement. Should I create a CNAME, A, NS? If so, which IP the 192.168.1.5, or the 209.242.3.139?

Thanks.

Sembee

This is the line that I am referring to:

www Alias (CNAME) bmedia-online.com.

An alias basically tells the loolup item to lookup the address shown instead.
However in the configuration shown you don't have an IP address for bmedia-online.com itself. This would normally be shown as (same as parent folder) would be type A and would have an IP address.
However I wouldn't recommend that you do that.

Instead, replace this CNAME with a host type A and enter the INTERNAL IP address of the web site.

www Host (A) 192.168.1.5

Voila - all done.
This obviously wouldn't work for people outside of your network - they will need the external IP address. However you will be configuring that on external DNS servers, probably at the ISP or domain name registrar.

Simon.

jacobbeckley

ASKER

Simon

I made allt he changes you requested. They all make sence, but the website is still not working.

You mentioned in your last post that I would be configuring that on the external DNS servers. Just to clarify my setup. The 192.168.1.5 is my DNS and my web site. What more do you think I need to configure?

Thanks for all your help.

Sembee

You cannot use 192.168.x.x on the Internet. They will not route. Therefore for this web site to be accessible on the Internet you will have to use separate DNS servers that contain routable external IP addresses. You do not use Active Directory DNS for external DNS - it exposes too much information and will give out wrong information.

Have you checked whether DNS is working correctly?
Drop in to a command prompt and type

ping www.bmedia-online.com

What IP address does it try to ping?

As for externally, I cannot ping www.bmedia-online.com - I cannot even do an NSLOOKUP on it, so your external DNS isn't working either.

Simon.

jacobbeckley

ASKER

Thanks for the response.

I understand that I can not use 192.168.1.x on the Internet.

Then I guess I should backtrack and ask you a few questions.

1. Is it possible to set up a server that acts as a DNS and a web server at the same time?

2. Is there another way to accomplish what I am doing.

To give you a bit more background, here is what I am trying to do.

I currently have two servers, both DELL. I am trying to have one be a web server and the other an Exchange server.

Since my ISP T1 provider is not handling DNS on their end, I am stuck with having to accomplish this task.

3. Is it possible for me to set the boxes static IP to 209.242.3.139? The box does have two NIC cards?

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Jake

Sembee

While your ISP isn't handling DNS you should be able to find someone can. Your domain name registrar will normally do this for you. You cannot conform with the DNS best practises of having DNS servers on two separate subnets (for redundancy).

Unfortunately you don't have enough servers to be able to run your own DNS. You would need four servers - two to run internal DNS and two to run external DNS.
You would also need two external IP addresses, need to make changes to your firewall to allow DNS requests to come in etc. It all becomes too messy. Leave it to the domain name people - they are used to running servers for this purpose.

Simon.

jacobbeckley

ASKER

Simon,

Thanks for the response.

If I need to get more servers, and another IP, I can do that. I need to set up this configuration this way.

I will close this question as I can see that it could go on forever.

Is is possible for me to set the static IP address of the one DNS server to the 209.242.3.139? and if so, will this allow me to set up forward lookup to the same machine? Can a DNS server also be a web server?

I am going to be working on this all day today. I would really like to not go down the wrong path.

Thanks,
Jake

jacobbeckley

ASKER

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Sembee

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jacobbeckley

ASKER

Simon,

I understand that I need to keep the internal and external DNS seperate. I am not too concerned about geting the internal domain name resolution working yet. I am more concerned with getting the external domain name resolution up and working.

The Split DNS is going to be the final solutions, but I need to get the external working first.

If you look at the screens I have posted above, maybe you could find something that is wrong. Something that is causing the PING, TRACERT, etc not to work.

Let me know if you find something.

Thanks,
Jake