Posted on 12/08/2012 4:55:34 PM PST by RangerM
I have a private website that I want my employees to be able to use for company information, however since it is not public, and not tied to the internet, the use of an outside DNS is not possible.
I'd still prefer my employees reach the site using "www.mysite.com", but without the DNS, I'm not sure the best way this is possible. The best way I can think of is to append the client computers HOSTS file to point to the internal address, however I'd rather not have to do this with every client computer. Is there a way to have an internal DNS, and would it be worth it, since I'd only use it for a single domain name?
Are you using active directory?
There is a file in your windows called “hosts.” (no extension). If it isn’t there, there is a file called “hosts.sam”
Edit this file (it maps numeric IP addresses to names) and have everyone install it to their system drive — if you used the “hosts.sam” example file, make sure you name it “hosts.”
I am assuming you are Windows based.
Its simple, first step is call your IT guy.
Don’t mean to be rude but thats probably easiest. You need a server with a web server running.
OOpps — I solved your problem, then read the whoe thing.
If you are already onto hosts then you might have to setup a DNS controller on one of the workstations on your network.
You should be able to have the DNS point to an internal IP address. So if it’s at mysite.com pointing to an IP 10.0.0.1, it should only be reachable inside of your network but not outside of it.
This is all on the assumption that you have an internally based web server.
Forgive my ignorance, but I don’t understand the question.
The server is Apache (running on XP), that allows me to provide employee information, but also allows PHP uploads (for timesheets). It’s entirely self-made.
The two constants on the network are the router and the server. The clients can vary because they are all laptops.
I’d have to run the DNS on the Apache server itself, I guess. I think there is a DNS module in Apache, although I have no experience with this.
Put your website into a protected folder. For example:
www.mywebsite.com/protectedfolder
When your users hit the web site inside the protected folder they will be prompted for a user name and password.
Lots of ways to do this, including putting that protected folder on a completely different server.
I know what you want to do but I just don’t have enough info in front of me to explain the whole thing.
OK, gotcha. If I understand the issue correctly, you’re looking to set up an internal DNS for Apache. Worst case, you just need a simple script to update your clients’ host file.
Wrong. He needs to pat his tummy while rubbing his head and hopping on one foot. Everyone knows that. Get with it.
You can look into dynamic dns providers.. there are several that are free. I have used them and it is an easy setup and it looks just like a “real” webserver.
Setup a server using Linux (free). The hardware can be an old box, a white box or a state of the art server, depending on your needs.
Unless you have thousands of employee’s the old or white box would be fine.
Setup Apache, DNS. Have your DHCP server push down the internal DNS server to the workstations. If you don’t have a DHCP server then you will need to set one up.
If all this is too complicated then call your IT Guy. He probably could use the work.
Is anything within the workplace network providing DHCP services? If so, that computer/appliance might also have the ability to provide name resolution with support for static entries.
Do an ipconfig /all on one of the workstations to get info about any configured DNS servers.
Is it an option to address the name of the machine?
The name of the server may already be resolving on your network.
Can you use a private static IP for it?
You mean like “new view” (command line) to view the machines on the network?
I’m assuming that it would show up, but can you “surf” to a machine by using its name? I’ve never heard of that.
Yes. The server has a static IP. 192.168.0.100.
I can get to it using the IP, but not the name “mysite.com”.
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