Apache2 on home ubuntu 8.10 problem

[hossiam]

OK I have a no-ip (dynamic DNS) domain name for my website on my server. I have got no errors when i restart apache, i have tested the connection and port and there fine. my problem is i can type my domain name in the browser, let's say it example.com, and i can see it. the problem is from another computer on my network i get "The server at example.org is taking too long to respond." When I add WWW i get "The browser could not find the host server for the provided address." What files do I have to edit....hosts.config, httpd.config sites avalible.......can someone please help me. My goal is just to use this to share photos and home videos among friends.

[Thirtysixway]

Did you forward ports on your router to your server?

[Iowan]

... the problem is from another computer on my network i get... Is the problem getting to the server from the internet (outside your network) or accessing it from another machine inside your network? The inside machines will either need to have /etc/hosts file edited - or local DNS.

[hossiam]

I enabled appllicatins

Current Settings: Custom
Allowed Applications Port Number(s) Public IP
VNC - TCP 5500

TCP 5800

TCP 5900

Web Server - TCP 80

SSH Server - TCP 22

FTP Server FTP (file transfer protocol) server TCP 21



There are some more options on my router.....

Public Proxied Subnet (NAT/Routed)
Enable
This value will determine the public addresses available for using applications with your home network devices.

This information is provided by your ISP

Internet Network: xx.xx.x.xx / xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Subnet Mask:
Warning
Auto Application Support Open
Default DHCP Pool

[hossiam]

Iowan both...here is my hosts file

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 server
*:80 example.org(got this dns name from no-ip.com)


# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts


the * is actually * not trying to hide info.

[hossiam]

I do love Ubuntu....thats why im using it on two of my home computers....but as a newbie do you think it would be easier just to use windows?...WAMP...I don't want to sound like some college girl who bought a netbook from DELL...:P....but so that I don't keep asking such basic questions and troubling the pros.

[mr.generic.user]

review starting with the basics:

1) can you browse a page from the server itself (127.0.0.1)... verifies that the server is running.

2) can you browse a page from another computer on your LAN using the server's LAN ip address (ie: 192.168.1.x)... verifies that the server's firewall is not blocking the port.

3) is your WAN (Internet) IP registered with no-ip. i use dyndns.org and i have my router set up to update my dyndns.org address when my WAN IP changes. that way DNS servers can reroute as needed. you should be able to find out your wan ip address from your router's status page.

4) can you ping your WAN IP address? if you can, try to ping your domain name. in linux it will also show on the command line what WAN IP the DNS servers think it should be.

5) is WAN port 80 routed on your router routed to port 80 on your server. your server should use a static LAN IP. this will cut down on problems

6) is port 80 blocked by your ISP? mine is. i use port 8080 on the WAN side of the router, and route it back to port 80 on your server. then all i have to do from a remote computer is type the address differently, ie:

my_dynamic_domain.org:8080

now, though that is not my actual domain name, that is exactly how i use it. for subfolders it would be my_dynamic_domain.org:8080/subfolder


let me know if any of this helps. i will watch this thread for a while to see what happens.

[hossiam]

1. good
2. good
3. good
4. good
5. your server should use a static LAN......I followed a step by step for this and ended up having no connections at all.
6. on my router it says its open

Thank you for taking you time out of your day to help......this is for everyone.

[mr.generic.user]

if you are still having problems with step 5+....
example below assumes router LAN is 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0

LAN static ip: (in case step by step was different from below)
1) sudo -i (changes to root, better than sudo each command)
2) ifconfig eth0 down (exchange eth0 to correct interface usually eth0 for fisrt NIC)
3) ifconfig etho 192.168.1.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 up (sets machine's LAN ip to 192.168.1.2)
4) route add default gw 192.168.1.1 (tells the machine where to go to find networks outside your own, ie: internet)
5) edit /etc/resolv.conf , remove all lines and add these

nameserver 4.2.2.1
nameserver 24.204.0.4


that sets static dns servers. (if you still have gnome network manager, all this will be undone at next boot. if this works you can uninstall the network manager and redo this to make it permanent. if you get everything working this way i will find a step by step for removing network manager for you, i had to do that on my machine.)

if everything is good, you should be able to ping google.com



as for the port 80 issue, your router is likely not blocking it, but your router might not be able to detect if your ISP's routers are. may still be worth a try if the above static ip stuff helps.

[hossiam]

Thanks again...I will try those steps but I just want someone to look at my error first to determine if its OK to go ahead.


I did some tinkering myself.....might have been a bad idea.....I dont know if i sould do a reinstall or if there is just on or two lines i need to fix. OK the only files that I have been changing are hosts, httds, and sites enabled/available. Now I getting this error.

* Starting web server apache2
(98)Address already in use: make_sock: could not bind to address 0.0.0.0:80
no listening sockets available, shutting down
Unable to open logs
...fail!

[hossiam]

OK uninstalled and reinstalled everything...here is what i did the only difference is that I am using ubuntu 8.10 not server edition....i need me some gui....
http://nettuts.com/articles/news/how-to-setup-a-dedicated-web-server-for-free/
http://portforward.com/routers.htm
registered a dyndns and downloaded inyadn http://www.dyndns.com/support/clients/unix.html

My server times out when i put my wan in my browser and when i put my dns in.

checked my port 80 http://www.canyouseeme.org/ all is ok

tried this http://www.dyndns.com/support/tools/dnsquery.html but don't understand what im lookin for.

Also went through all this http://www.dyndns.com/support/kb/why_cant_i_connect_to_my_server.html

I didn't edit the hosts file or the httpd file this time.

site available file looks like this

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
ServerName www.example.org(my real site not example)
DocumentRoot /var/www/Trial/
<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/Trial/>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
<Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin">
AllowOverride None
Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log

# Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
# alert, emerg.
LogLevel warn

CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined

Alias /doc/ "/usr/share/doc/"
<Directory "/usr/share/doc/">
Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
Allow from 127.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 ::1/128
</Directory>

</VirtualHost>

Any more help would be great.

[mr.generic.user]

ok, hmmm.... make sure that the WAN IP your router shows you on its status page is the same as the one you see here:
http://www.whatismyip.com/

if not, try using the address you see on whatismyip.com in your browser to see if that works.

also make sure your router has any 'remote configuration' or 'remote administration' turned off (just in case).

i know this may sound old, but have you tried routing port 8080 from your router to port 80 on your server just to see if it acts differently? if not, when you do, make sure you have disabled the remote configuration on your router, it usually uses this port by default.

another thing you could try to see if there is a router setting that was somehow missed is to temporarily set your SERVER LAN IP as the DMZ HOST in your router and remove any forwarding for port 80/8080. this exposes your server entirely to the internet, but that is why you only do it for testing.

what is the make and model of your router and cable / dsl modem? what ISP?

[hossiam]

OK a friend outside of the network can access my web page by trying the ip address. Which made me extremely happy. The dns on the other hand will not display. So what do you think? Thanks for the help so far I ve learned plenty. If i put my IP external ip from whatsmyip.com i cant see it.

OK I finally figured out the issue with the domain name and external IP in local browser. For those who are having this same problem in your etc/hosts file you must put

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 ubuntu
192.168.x.xx yourdnsordomainname.org
the ip address in front of yourdnsordomainname.org is your local ip for that computer/server.....you can fin this by opening your terminal and typing ifconfig look for the number next to inet addr: thats your internal ip. I know it's basic for most but it helped me with my internat problems now onto my external problems....

[mr.generic.user]

OK, if the WAN IP your router reports to you allows a remote friend to access your site, but the one you get from whatismyip.com does not, then the one on your router must be correct, and the one you get from the site is a gateway ip from your ISP. make sure to completely remove your dns update software.

instead of using a software to update your dyndns.org account, look in your router configuration for a 'Dynamic DNS' configuration. you should be able to set it up with your dyndns.org account and have it update your WAN IP correctly. the software you installed to update your dyndns.org account is going to use an internet IP lookup page just like the site i gave you, whereas your router will use its own WAN IP address instead.

let me know if that helps. if you have trouble finding / configuring your router's dynamic dns settings, post your router's make (encore/linksys/etc) and model number so i can look up the documentation and see if i can help there.

[hossiam]

You solved it.......it was the software I installed from the dns domain name hosting company. It did not update my IP. It used the first on I put in manualy, has since changed. All is good now. Thanks for hanging in there mr.generic.user. I am glad I stuck with Ubuntu. All thanks to your help and the communities.