DNS experts needed

[SimpleSi]

Right - the new 'droid tabs still suck big time with proxys

We can get out onto t'interent with them but then can't access Local LAN resources like Espresso and Knowledgebox that run on local LAN web servers.

The proxy settings on the 'droid allow for a proxy bypass exception but all the browsers just ignore this is its an IP.

Now I've never managed to get my server DNS settings right so that I can type

http://cachepilot/~espresso/index.html

and I have to use

http://10.xx.yy.250/~espresso/index.html

So what I need is how to set up my w2k3 DNS server so that it responds to a name and then use that name in the droid proxy bypass list which suggests example.com,mycomp.test.com,localhost

I hope this makes sense

Si

[jamesfed]

I haven't used Expresso (except from Starbucks) however when we do DNS mappings for our IIS sites this is how it works-

On IIS Box
1. Load the site in IIS go to bindings and create new binding
2. Create a new HTTP/HTTPS binding allow communication on any IP address
3. In the DNS name box (same window) enter the DNS name that you want that website to respond to e.g. merits.internal.<school DNS name here>
4. Click ok and then smile

On DNS server
5. Open DNS and expand forward lookup zones
6. Expand your DNS school name (ours is fitzharrys.oxon.sch.uk)
7. Right click on your DNS school name and click create new host
8. In the host name box enter the DNS name that you selected in IIS up to the point where you enter your selected DNS name up to the last full stop before your schools DNS name (using example from above that would be merits.internal).
9. In IP address box enter IP address of the IIS server
10. Click ok, sit back and wait for DNS to update.

[SimAda00]

As jamesfed said that should work. Depending on how specific you wanted to be you don't have to put a DNS name in at all (step 3), by setting this IIS will then only respond to requests that come via e.g. merits.internal.<school DNS name here>.

If you leave this box blank, IIS will then respond to any requests from any IP address on that port, irrespective of what DNS address was used to make the connection initially.

[SimpleSi]

Just to be clear - these instructions will work for a separate linux based web server where the Espressocontent lives on an ip of 10.xx.yy.250 when the main(only) w2k3 server is on 10.xx.yy.3?

Sorry to sound stupid but wasn't expecting IIS (or which all I know is that its the MS equiv of Apache) to be brought into this

Si

[SimAda00]

Going to sound simple but are you able to ping/traceroute from the device to the iis servers via the dns address? and I'm assuming that the device is picking up the right dns server settings from dhcp?

[jamesfed]

Just to be clear - these instructions will work for a separate linux based web server where the Espressocontent lives on an ip of 10.xx.yy.250 when the main(only) w2k3 server is on 10.xx.yy.3?

Sorry to sound stupid but wasn't expecting IIS (or which all I know is that its the MS equiv of Apache) to be brought into this

Si

Hi Si,

Sorry I only know about IIS (infact when I started this job the first thing I did was move all the apache sites over onto IIS (should've seen the performance boost!)).

All the same is the expresso site hosted on Apache? Also is that Apache on Linux or a Windows box?

James

[SimpleSi]

Can we stop with the IIS servers

My espresso box sits on a separate little PC running some flavour of Linux and serving up content for clients on the LAN.

The box has a static IP (10.xx.yy.250) and apart from sitting on the LAN and sharing the same sub-net and gateway - it is a standalone device.

I'd just like to be able to map its IP 10.xx.yy.250 to a name via DNS (Or whatever - if it involves setting up IIS on my w2k3 server then so be it but I don't want to go down that route (as I've never done it apart from 10 mins on a course once) and then someone goes - ah - i didn't realise what you meant )

regards
Really Simple Simon

[jamesreedersmith]

Just create an aname record in DNS for cachepilot and point it at the correct IP.

[robk]

The dns section of the 1st reply is all you should need simplesi the iis changes are for multiple sites.

[SimpleSi]

I'm sure I've tried the simple adding of the name to DNS before and got nowhere but I'll try again

Si

[SimpleSi]

OK - I've created a ned.school.local in my forward lookup zone pointing to 10.xx.yy.250.

On Another machine, if I ping ned.school.local then I get replies from 10.xx.yy.250

So this all looks good so far

But on same machine in firefox - if I type in http://ned.school.local I get and error back from the county proxy server

If I use http://10.xx.yy.250 then it goes straight to my local web server.

Now I suspect this is because 10.xx.yy/24 is set as an exception in the network settings in FF.

This is why I need an expert as I've never been able to get my local DNS to be the authoritve name server - I personally suspect that browsers with proxy settings don't use DNS servers at all!

Simon

[denon101]

I would just add http://ned.school.local in the exceptions in FF. This way when you attempt to connect it will not try and use the county proxy. I have it setup like that for my spiceworks helpdesk and it works fine.

[SimpleSi]

I would just add http://ned.school.local in the exceptions in FF.

The whole reason for doing this is to get a 'droid tablrt to access the local web server.

the 'droid has exceptions but putting in an IP address doesn't work so I'm trying to see if putting a name in instead works.

Like I said, I think browsers dont use the LAN DNS server settings (apart from resolving the proxy servers name itself they go straight to the proxy server.

So if the browser/OS doesn't actually pay attention to local lan exception settings then your stuffed

Si

[krisd32]

Are you using http://wwwcache.cleo.net.uk for your auto configuration script in your browser. and put the cleo servers in as a secondary dns for your clients. worth a try?

[SimpleSi]

Are you using http://wwwcache.cleo.net.uk for your auto configuration script in your browser.

This is for a 'droid tablet that doesn' have auto config setting - just proxy server name, port number and exception list for non-proxy use that seems to be completly borked

Don't see how using the cleo servers as a secondary DNS is going to help

Si