Moodle two IP Addresses (LAN & Internet)

[karan_jhr]

I am using Moodle locally hosted on Intranet
Students can access it without any problem. Its a normal server with one NIC.

We have a setup of Local Active Directory, DNS & DHCP etc.

Currently the setup is that the IP address of the Moodle is mapped with ISP and LAN users are accessing it via that external IP address.

It means that even local users on LAN use the External IP address to access it, which is a bit slow.

I read a lot on forums and everyone is suggesting to forward local machines via DNS to point at the external address.

How can i do it?
I want to have the settings of external IP address in Moodle Config file meanwhile i want the intranet users to access the server on LAN with excellent speed.

Can anyone tell me in steps how to do it via DNS?

thanks

[kmount]

Hi,

Welcome to Edugeek.

The domain you access Moodle on:

1) Is it the same address internally & externally?
2) Do you have a 'zone' for this domain on your internal DNS so that internal queries use internal hostnames for email servers etc?

Does your moodle server have an internal IP that your ISP nat an external one to or does it bind directly to an external IP?

Your answers to the above will help identify the best way to do it.

[FN-GM]

Are you connecting via Ip address for example http://10.10.10.10 ?

[karan_jhr]

thanks for ur reply kmount & FN-GM
1) Is it the same address internally & externally?
No the actual IP address of server on Lan is 10.14.*.* but i access it via external ip 212.*.*.* even on Lan i use this IP

2) Do you have a 'zone' for this domain on your internal DNS so that internal queries use internal hostnames for email servers etc?
We do have a DNS but i didnt define anything on it as yet

Does your moodle server have an internal IP that your ISP nat an external one to or does it bind directly to an external IP?
I have internal IP and my ISP NAT or connects it via IR

ON my DNS i have following things
Forward Lookup Zones
Reverse Lookup Zones

[kmount]

What is inside Forward Lookup Zones?

Assuming your Moodle is accessed at vle.domain.com from both inside/outside do you have domain.com in your forward lookup zones?

[apeo]

Why do you use the external ip when on the LAN?

[m25man]

You have an internal server called myserver.mydomain.internal but you reach it from the Internet using a public IP or FQDN eg. moodle.myschool.com
Using a single NIC you must be using a NAT router and port redirection/forwarding.

This situation is called "Split DNS"

Google for this and follow the hundreds of guides on how to set this up...

[teejay]

I presume as well as your internal DNS server you have external DNS provided by some external DNS provider. If thats the case you just create a record on your internal DNS server pointing to your internal IP 10.14.*.* and on your external dns provider you leave it as the external IP 212.*.*.*

[karan_jhr]

okay it worked
thanks
Now i am able to access it locally via 10.14.*.*
External Address is 212.*.*
In Config.php i have defined local IP 10.14.*.* and its working perfectly fine
BUT
When i am browsing via Internet
It loads the page BUT without CSS???

[sonofsanta]

okay it worked
thanks
Now i am able to access it locally via 10.14.*.*
External Address is 212.*.*
In Config.php i have defined local IP 10.14.*.* and its working perfectly fine
BUT
When i am browsing via Internet
It loads the page BUT without CSS???

Check the address that is referenced for the CSS - is it using absolute addressing e.g. moodle.domain.sch.uk/styles.css or is it relative e.g. just /theme/styles.css?

Just View Source and do a find for .css and you should get your answer.

[karan_jhr]

I cannot see any CSS settings in my config file
please help me in changing it

<?php  /// Moodle Configuration File 

unset($CFG);

$CFG->dbtype    = 'mysql';
$CFG->dbhost    = 'localhost';
$CFG->dbname    = 'moodle';
$CFG->dbuser    = 'root';
$CFG->dbpass    = '***********';
$CFG->dbpersist =  false;
$CFG->prefix    = 'mdl_';
$CFG->wwwroot   = 'http://10.14.*.*/moodle';
$CFG->dirroot   = 'C:/Inetpub/wwwroot/moodle';
$CFG->dataroot  = 'C:/Inetpub/moodledata';
$CFG->admin     = 'admin';

$CFG->directorypermissions = 00777;  // try 02777 on a server in Safe Mode

$CFG->passwordsaltmain = '>+@ #0CMXq?>_Pz@e^+].H],';

require_once("$CFG->dirroot/lib/setup.php");
// MAKE SURE WHEN YOU EDIT THIS FILE THAT THERE ARE NO SPACES, BLANK LINES,
// RETURNS, OR ANYTHING ELSE AFTER THE TWO CHARACTERS ON THE NEXT LINE.
?>

[webman]

karan_jhr: Don't configure the Moodle setting (wwwroot) to the IP address - this will only work for internet or internal - not both. But do configure it for the hostname (e.g. http://www.myschool.com/moodle).

If you've followed the instructions and advice above, everything should then work.

On your LAN, your DNS server should be configured for www.myschool.com to resolve to 10.14.*.*. So when your LAN clients try to access Moodle, your internal DNS server will respond with 10.14.*.* and it will be fine. On the Internet, people will receive 212.*.*.* as the address, and it will be fine.

[karan_jhr]

thanks webman
i have changed the settings in config.php
and renamed wwwroot to the actual address (e.g. http://www.myschool.com/moodle)
its loading fine on LAN
still on internet loading but without CSS??

[sonofsanta]

I cannot see any CSS settings in my config file
please help me in changing it

Nothing that in-depth - just load your VLE in IE, Firefox etc., go to the View menu and choose to View Source. This will show you HTML code that constitutes the web page - and in there you should see where the page is trying to get the CSS from. If you've changed the wwwroot in your config as above it will probably be looking at 10.14.*.*/moodle/themes/styles.css (or similar), which obviously then won't work for people accessing externally. Change the wwwroot to your domain, as webman says, and then everyone should be able to get to it.

In short: do what webman said and it should fix the CSS error.

[karan_jhr]

Did exactly as webman said
Local address 10.14.*.* on LAN and Config File
Working good
Via Internet Loads but without CSS