Virtual Web Site with Not yet purchased Domain name

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#1 Wed, 07/03/2013 - 13:46
Ned

Virtual Web Site with Not yet purchased Domain name

Hello,

I asked my internet provider to increase my internet speed for my home web server. When they changed my internet speed, they changed my IP address! I started to tune everything in virtualmin. It took me a day to realize, that with the new IP address can not be done. I called them again to return my old IP address.

Now everything is working again, except that I can not see the websites in server which are without purchased domains. Before that, I could.

Before, I created a virtual website with virtualmin and used not purchased domain name for this website ( examplemydomain.com ). When the website is ready I bought the domain name from namecheap.com and configured the external IP address, and the website was accessible on the Internet.

I have internal network with a laptop and a web server behind a router - the router is connected to the Internet. I have several websites with purchased domain names, that are available on the Internet. I have two web sites configured with virtualmin with their domain names (1examplemydomain.com and 2examplemydomain.com). The domain names - 1examplemydomain.com and 2examplemydomain.com - are Not yet purchased. Before the change of IP address, worked on them from inside my network - from my laptop browser. Now I can not see them in the web browser on the laptop ( Server not found -Firefox can't find the server ).

I think it's something to do with Virtualmin - System Settings - Virtualmin Configuration - Networking.

Where do you think is the problem?

I would be very grateful for any help that will solve the problem!

Thu, 07/04/2013 - 06:14
Ned

From the browser screen, which is connected to the server, i can see website 1examplemydomain.com (The domain name - 1examplemydomain.com is created with virtualmin - Not yet purchased from namecheap.com).

From The browser on the laptop when I type 1examplemydomain.com get the message:

Server not found-Firefox can't find the server

The Server and the laptop are behind the same router.

Assumptions and ideas?

Thu, 07/04/2013 - 09:56 (Reply to #2)
VirtualNoob

Is Bind configured and running on the virtualmin server, and are the DNS settings for both of these domains set up on the server too? If so, you could just add the server's IP to your laptop's DNS settings to get your laptop to query the virtualmin server for the IP address of the website.

That should make the IP of the new websites discoverable from the laptop.

If that fails, then just create a local record in your hosts file on the laptop the tell it where to find those domains.

Thu, 07/04/2013 - 10:44
Ned

Hello VirtualNoob, and thanks for the reply!

Bind is configured and running on the virtualmin server. All my other websites are reachable from my laptop.

The problem is that I am not aware of where, what and how to configured in DNS Options or/and DNS Records for 1examplemydomain.com or Network Configuration - Network Interfaces or Routing and Gateways.

Before the change of IP address, worked on 1examplemydomain.com from inside my network - from my laptop browser.

I tuned everything in Network Configuration - Network Interfaces or Routing and Gateways. Maybe delete and eth0 - I have now eth1 (Bootup Interface from From DHCP).

For the first time I face such a situation.

I want to restore everything as it was before. I can not work on the website without being able to see it in the browser on my work laptop.

I am grateful for any feedback and suggestion!

Thu, 07/04/2013 - 10:55 (Reply to #4)
VirtualNoob

Ned

Did you try my suggestion of adding the server's private LAN IP address into the laptop's DNS servers? If I understand your issue correctly, this should work.

If not, then please try the other suggestion I provided of adding the server's LAN IP into your hosts file on the laptop so that the website urls would resolve to the server's internal LAN IP.

Thu, 07/04/2013 - 11:25
Ned

Sorry!!! I did not put DNS server to my laptop and I do not know how to do it.

I want to try the settings in the server DNS. There, I did changes!

Thu, 07/04/2013 - 11:39
Ned

When I enter LAN address in the browser on the laptop I can see the site (1examplemydomain.com), but when i enter the name 1examplemydomain.com in the browser on the laptop Firefox give me:

Server not found -Firefox can't find the server.

When I enter 1examplemydomain.com in the browser on the server monitor i can see the website.

I think it's related with server network settings or server dns settings.

Thu, 07/04/2013 - 11:45 (Reply to #7)
VirtualNoob

Hi again

If you can answer these questions I'll do my best to help you.

What OS is the laptop running? What is the IP of your router? What is the IP of your server?

Thu, 07/04/2013 - 11:56
Ned

Hi VirtualNoob,

My laptop OS is windows vista ultimate,

Router LAN:

MAC Address 00-24-01-90-BB-C4 IP Address 192.168.0.1 Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0 DHCP Server Enabled

Router WAN:

IP Address 87.119.xx.x Subnet Mask 255.255.248.0 Gateway 87.119.xx.xx Domain Name Server 77.77.167.xx, 77.77.167.xx

DMZ DMZ(Demilitarized Zone):

192.168.0.xxx

Thu, 07/04/2013 - 12:18
VirtualNoob

OK, first step...

Right click your network icon in the notification area of Windows, then choose network and sharing center. Right click your network adapter and choose properties, then double-click Internet Protocol V4. Choose the radio button next to Use the following DNS server addresses.

For preferred, use Google's nameservers: 8.8.8.8

For alternate use your server's LAN IP: (you didn't give me this)

Click OK, OK, OK etc to confirm and close the dialog boxes.

Open the start menu, then type cmd and press ctrl + shift + enter all at the same time - this should open a command prompt in admin mode. In the command prompt window, type ipconfig /flushdns the press enter to clear the DNS cache.

Try to visit your urls.

If it still fails, repeat the process but swap the preferred and alternate DNS IP addresses around and retest.

Let us know how you get on. There is another option to try if you still have no joy.

Thu, 07/04/2013 - 12:46
Ned

Does not work. Same result.

Thu, 07/04/2013 - 13:10
Ned
  1. I have internal network with a laptop and a web server behind a router - the router is connected to the Internet.

  2. From the server monitor browser screen, i can see website 1examplemydomain.com (The domain name - 1examplemydomain.com is created with virtualmin - Not yet purchased from namecheap.com)

  3. From The browser on the laptop when I type 1examplemydomain.com get the message:

Server not found-Firefox can't find the server

  1. The Server and the laptop are behind the same router.

  2. I've only changed server settings:

a) bind dns

b) Webmin Network Configuration

c) Webmin Network Interfaces

d) Webmin Routing and Gateways

Logic tells me to turn my attention to these server settings

VirtualNoob, I'm very grateful for your help, I will try everything!

Thu, 07/04/2013 - 15:33
VirtualNoob

Hi again

I've no idea what config you had before, but I know that this will provide the functionality you desire. We're going to bypass any domain nameservers when looking for the domains you do not yet own, and tell Vista exactly where to find them. Please follow these instructions:

I'll assume that your server's LAN IP is 192.168.0.2 for these instructions

1) Browse to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories

2) Right click "Notepad" and select "Run as administrator"

3) Click "Continue" on the UAC prompt

4) Click File -> Open

5) Browse to "C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc"

6) Change the file filter drop down box from "Text Documents (.txt)" to "All Files (.*)"

7) Select "hosts" and click "Open"

8) Add a line for each domain name like this:

192.168.0.2 1examplemydomain.com

192.168.0.2 www.1examplemydomain.com

192.168.0.2 2examplemydomain.com

192.168.0.2 www.2examplemydomain.com

9) Close Notepad. Save when prompted

Try again to visit your domains and let us know what results you get.

Thu, 07/04/2013 - 16:50
Ned

VirtualNoob, Thank you very much! Now I can work more calmly.

This temporarily fix the problem.

But my heart is crying. My favorite server on Debian with webmin and virtualmin does not work as before. Something I have not set up properly and that bothers me. I guess everyone in this forum know how it feels when something with their server is not working.

I'm sure that i have not done something correctly in the settings , but with so many options I do not know what and where.

Thanks again for your help, I wish you all the happiness in the world!

If anyone has any idea what could be the reason for my problem, let's share it.

Thank you!

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