Windows Server - resolve external web site w/o www

Asked By dlw

13-Nov-09 12:30 PM

Our domain name is company.com  we have an alias that forwards
www.company.com to our external web site.  It is hosted by HubSpot.  In order
for us to manage the site, we also need just plain company.com to resolve to
the site.  Is there any way to make this happen?
I was trying to do a redirect in IIS, but IIS is not running on the DC, BUT
when you type just company.com into a browser, it comes up with an Under
Construction page.  Where is that coming from?

13-Nov-09 12:46 PM

This is a little tricky because the blank domain entry, which on a DC is
called the LdapIpAddress, is a necessary address for Active Directory. it is
the record that shows up as "(same as parent)" with an IP address. That IP
address is the DC. Normally to do what you want to get to the blank domain
name (without www), you would change this, but you will have numerous Active
Directory problems. Eventually the Netlogon service will overwrite it with
the correct IP of the DC during the next registration cycle.

To get around this, install IIS on the DC (which is not normally recommended
due to security reasons). Then once installed on the DC (apparently you
already installed IIS), go into the default website, and under the document
page, select 'redirect to a URL' and type in your www.whatever.com address.

Here is more info on this scenario, and other similar scenarios.

Split Zone or no Split Zone - Can't Access Internal Website with External
Name
http://msmvps.com/blogs/acefekay/archive/2009/09/04/split-zone-or-no-split-zone-can-t-access-internal-website-with-external-name.aspx


--
Ace

This posting is provided "AS-IS" with no warranties or guarantees and
confers no rights.

Please reply back to the newsgroup or forum for collaboration benefit among
responding engineers, and to help others benefit from your resolution.

Ace Fekay, MCT, MCITP EA, MCTS Windows 2008 & Exchange 2007, MCSE & MCSA
2003/2000, MCSA Messaging 2003
Microsoft Certified Trainer

For urgent issues, please contact Microsoft PSS directly. Please check
http://support.microsoft.com for regional support phone numbers.

18-Nov-09 12:10 PM

dlw> Our domain name is company.com =A0

No, it is not.

obscure-your-dns-data.html>

dlw> In order for us to manage the site, we also need just plain
company.com to
dlw> resolve to the site. =A0

And in order for other things on your LAN to work, you need that name
to resolve to your domain controllers.

dcs-overwrite-domain-name.html>

As the FGA says, in an ideal world your WWW browser would use SRV
resource records, and you would _not_ need "just plain example.com to
resolve to the site", at all.

dlw> Is there any way to make this happen?

Yes.  The FGA lists three, the first of which requires Microsoft to
pull its finger out.  M. Fekay gave a third.  Here is a fourth:  Use a
proxy HTTP server, tell all of your WWW browsers about it, and
configure the proxy HTTP server to handle http://example.com./
specially.  No DNS service involved.

20-Nov-09 12:54 AM

Set up IIS (or what ever web server /is/ running on your DC) to return a
301 redirect to "www.company.com".


If you are getting a web page (even an "Under Construction" page) off
your DC, then there is a web server running on it.



Grant. . . .

20-Nov-09 12:56 AM

Granted, a reverse proxy (a.k.a. web accelerator) will work, but it will
potentially cause a lot more traffic through the proxy system than a
simple redirect would.

Here is a fifth (and in my opinion the most proper one even if it is a
lot of work).  Rename your domain so that AD and your web presence do
not collide.  Sub-domains are wonderful.



Grant. . . .