how to change DNS to look at outside hosted website
Moved the internal website off site. Question is; do I have to delete the existing zone in my DNS in order for internal user to see the new externaly hosted site.
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ASKER
My AD (company.office.com) is not the same as the external website (company.com). I did however do as you suggested (A Record)but it didn't seem to work so I changed it back. Do I need to clear the cache? My fear is that if I delete the zone it will messup SBS remote workpalce or webmail. How do I check to see if its used anywhere. If I pause it, is that the same as shutting it off. Thanks for you help
OK,
You seem to be selective at what you read... have you done the whois search yet to see if your DNS server is listed under your domain. Remember if it is there, you SHOULD NOT delete the zone as it is required for the Internet DNS servers to resolve your web site address as well as many other names you may depend on. If it not listed there, you can safely remove it. Remember that if you have a zone set up it will not be in cache. So there will be no need to clear the cache.
*****
If your domain is as you showed above removing it will not affect your webmail or even your remote web workplace.
*****
You seem to be selective at what you read... have you done the whois search yet to see if your DNS server is listed under your domain. Remember if it is there, you SHOULD NOT delete the zone as it is required for the Internet DNS servers to resolve your web site address as well as many other names you may depend on. If it not listed there, you can safely remove it. Remember that if you have a zone set up it will not be in cache. So there will be no need to clear the cache.
*****
If your domain is as you showed above removing it will not affect your webmail or even your remote web workplace.
*****
Remote workplace runs off your default web site and by default this does not rely on dns names, but only your IP addresses, go have a look in the IIS Manager (it should be set to "all_unassigned")
Please have a look at this question for more info: https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21895832/ConnectComputer-Failure-Problem.html
Please have a look at this question for more info: https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21895832/ConnectComputer-Failure-Problem.html
ASKER
As you noticed, I'm very selective at what I read...... I don't want to make a wrong move and have to back peddle. I've done the whois search and it does not dispaly my server as a registerd DNS server. But how do I check to see if it's used internally?
OK, do the following:
On your server goto IE and type in: http:\\127.0.0.1 => you should get the remote web work place start page
On a workstation do: http:\\x.x.x.x where x.x.x.x is your server's internal IP address - you can also put in your external IP address and see what that does. They should all give you the same thing.
On your server goto IE and type in: http:\\127.0.0.1 => you should get the remote web work place start page
On a workstation do: http:\\x.x.x.x where x.x.x.x is your server's internal IP address - you can also put in your external IP address and see what that does. They should all give you the same thing.
To test the webmail, just do the following: add /exchange to each of the above.
Now, if these work fine, you can assign names to them, like for instance your computer name... and this will housed within your Active Directory domain zone on your dns server.
If you aren't the DNS host for the external zone, there is no point in keeping it on your DNS server, you will only be complicating mattes for yourself. Remember that you want to be able to server contect to the Internet - haveing access to it yourseld would also be nice.
Regards,
M
By the way, is the external zone a Active Directory integrated zone? if it is not, you can also save the dns zone file to another location before you delete the zone from your server. That way you can always roll back if things don't work as expected.
Now, if these work fine, you can assign names to them, like for instance your computer name... and this will housed within your Active Directory domain zone on your dns server.
If you aren't the DNS host for the external zone, there is no point in keeping it on your DNS server, you will only be complicating mattes for yourself. Remember that you want to be able to server contect to the Internet - haveing access to it yourseld would also be nice.
Regards,
M
By the way, is the external zone a Active Directory integrated zone? if it is not, you can also save the dns zone file to another location before you delete the zone from your server. That way you can always roll back if things don't work as expected.
ASKER
OK
I've deleted the zone and I can still get to webmail and workplace as you said I would. I did nslookup www.mycompany.com
server: www.mycompany.com
address: 172.16.0.5
Non-authoritative answer
Name: www.mycompany.com
address: the new external ip address
So it appears to resolve to the outside but I still can't see the website from within the building. www.mycompany.com takes me to the remote web work place start page as before.
I do appreciate all your help,
Thanks
I've deleted the zone and I can still get to webmail and workplace as you said I would. I did nslookup www.mycompany.com
server: www.mycompany.com
address: 172.16.0.5
Non-authoritative answer
Name: www.mycompany.com
address: the new external ip address
So it appears to resolve to the outside but I still can't see the website from within the building. www.mycompany.com takes me to the remote web work place start page as before.
I do appreciate all your help,
Thanks
The IP address that you have above falls within the IETF and IANA internal IP address ranges set our in RFC 1918. This can not be the address that your ISP has assigned for your web site. No one will ever be able to get to it. Have a look http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1918.html
Do the following:
nslookup -querytype=ns mycompany.com x.x.x.x
x.x.x.x should be the IP address of your Internet Connectivity provider DNS server.
This should give you the name and IP address for the dns servers that are hosting your domain dns
next test:
nslookup www.mycompany.com y.y.y.y
y.y.y.y should be one of your domains registered DNS servers.
If you still get the 172 address, then the problem is with the dns hosting company and they need to change the A records for your www.mycompany.com to point to the correct IP address of the server that your hosting company is using to host your web site on.
If the IP address is different from then we need to have a look at your name resolution environment on your network. Starting with your SBS name server and then fan out from there.
Regards,
M
:)
Do the following:
nslookup -querytype=ns mycompany.com x.x.x.x
x.x.x.x should be the IP address of your Internet Connectivity provider DNS server.
This should give you the name and IP address for the dns servers that are hosting your domain dns
next test:
nslookup www.mycompany.com y.y.y.y
y.y.y.y should be one of your domains registered DNS servers.
If you still get the 172 address, then the problem is with the dns hosting company and they need to change the A records for your www.mycompany.com to point to the correct IP address of the server that your hosting company is using to host your web site on.
If the IP address is different from then we need to have a look at your name resolution environment on your network. Starting with your SBS name server and then fan out from there.
Regards,
M
:)
ASKER
It works.. Thanks for all your help
In that case, do NOT delete the DNS zone! You'll incapacitate your AD doing so.
Instead, open the DNS MMC, and add a host (A) record "www" to your domain.com zone that points to the external IP address of your new web server.