Windows Forum

Ask something
Discussion Locked

IP Mapping & DNS

0 helpful
8 replies

by jtcherry

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

How can I host multiple web sites on win2000 server and have each open from the web by just using their url name?

I have a reg. domain name but I want to have my clients web pages open with out the domain.com/~page.htm

Can I (by using DNS) have the world access one of many web sites all hosted on the same server?

eg. I want to see joeshamburgers.mydomain.com or samshairdesigns.mydomain.com

Both sites are on the same server. Therefore the pointer will be to a particolar folder on that server and NOT a separate box.

8 replies

by gbworld

You have to do the following:

1. Set up each site as its own site. You can do this a variety of ways like

a) use FrontPage. Will set up FP extensions, if you are using them for clients.

b) use the Internet Services Manager and right click for new site.

Now that you have the site, you will either

a) map it to its own IP
b) map it to a shared IP and then set up host headers (Advanced Button in the Web Site tab of the properties dialog in Internet Services Manager)

The creation of a site and mapping to an IP and possibly a host header is the first step. This must be done first.

The rest is fairly simple. You just add records to your DNS that point to the proper IP. These can be bobsdiner.mysite.com or www.bobsdiner.com (if you are the primary DNS for bobsdiner.com as specified by Network Solutions, et al).

The name in DNS must map to the host header you used in the properties for the site.

A couple of potential caveats:

1. You must be a DNS server for the domain you are mapping. You can add as many subdomains to your domain as you wish, but the DNS server you are setting this up in must be the one specified by Network Solutions, et al.

subdomain.domain.com

As long as you own the domain and have the DNS server, this should be simple.

If this does not make sense, you are currently in over your head. It is fairly simple to learn, but do not jump in until what I have written makes sense.

Gregory A. Beamer
MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

by gbworld

I figured a couple of other comments might be in order here:

1. To add the record to, you will probably want to add a host (an A record). You will need to add other domains to your forest if you need www.theirname.com. You do all of this through the DNS tool.

2. Everything you need to do for the site can be done in the Internet Services Manager. Right click and create. I covered most of this in the post.

It would be good to look through the documentation on Active Directory, as Windows2000 uses Active Directory with DNS. This is the means by which it sets up forests and trees.

In AD, the subdomains are part of a tree. If the client wants to register their own domain, this becomes another tree in the forest.

GB

by larryhyman

Well I don't know about NT. But in Win 98, you can use the hosts. file to map any name to any (local) ip number...

Larry Hyman

by paradis

The basic process (for using separate IPs; host headers will work if you can't get separate IPs, but they require browser support to work properly) is as follows:

1. Add additional IPs to your box via the Network Control Panel. Open TCP/IP properties, go to the IP Address tab, and click Advanced to add more IPs.

2. Create a site in Internet Services Manager for each domain, and assign it to a unique IP that you added in step 1. Normally, any IPs you add in step 1 and don't assign to a site in ISM will go to the Default Web Site.

3. Create DNS A records to map the names for the domain (www.whatever.com, whatever.com, etc) to the IP you assigned it in step 2.

4. If users will manage their sites via FrontPage, simply install the frontpage extensions and you'll be all set. If they'll need to use FTP, you'll need to configure the FTP service to allow them access to their files. You can do this in two ways: a single FTP site in ISM with virutal directories for each web site, or separate FTP sites in ISM (mapped to the same IPs as the domains) with the web's roots as their home directories. In either case, you'll need to allow write access in the FTP sites/virtual directories, so make sure that the NTFS permissions only allow the web site's owner access to the files. An added hint (for use with a single FTP site and virtual directories) is that naming the virutal directory for a domain after that domain's user account will cause the FTP server to set that virtual dir asthe user's default directory at logon.

This discussion is closed to new replies.