File Manager applet in Webmin works only with LAN IP

[kayjaygee_13]

Hi, when I connect to Webmin using https://domainname.com:10000, I cannot get the File Manager Java applet to work. If I connect from within my LAN using https://192.168.0.100:10000, the applet works. Any ideas? Thank you in advance.

[Vegan]

Are you sure that is right machine IP address?

[kayjaygee_13]

Yes, the internal IP address on the LAN is 192.168.0.100. To access Webmin via the Internet, I use the URL https://hostname.homelinux.org:10000.

[kevinthecomputerguy]

You could compare your setings to mine here
http://woodel.com

Also...
The File Manager uses Java. Make sure Java is installed on every computer you try it from. http://java.com

Do you have a port forward in your router from external 10000 to internal 10000

Also check, Webmin \ Webmin Configuration \ IP Access Control.
Blank that out if anything is listed and try again.
-Kev

[kayjaygee_13]

Kev, I have a desktop (LAN IP is 192.168.0.103) and a laptop (LAN IP 192.168.0.102) and both have Java installed and working properly. Both machines can use the File Manager applet (and the SSH2 Login applet) if I connect to Webmin using the LAN IP of the server, which is 192.168.0.100. However, if I use the host name to access Webmin, the File Manager applet won't work, BUT the SSH2 Login applet works, which proves that Java is working. It might be worth mentioning that the desktop is running Windows 7 and the laptop is running Vista (both are 64-bit). My computer at work is running XP 64-bit and when I connect using the host name, both applets work perfectly. Strange, wouldn't you say?

Edit : IP Access Control does not have any entries.

[kevinthecomputerguy]

Oh, I think im on the right page now.
So you are having internal naming problems then? Basically your webmin box is named, lets say fred.
And internally you cant get to https://fred:10000 but you can get to fred's IP https://192.168.0.100:10000 is that what you are saying?

If thats what you meant, This is pretty common when you mix Linux and Windows. The easy fix is to edit the c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file on all of your internal windows boxes, and make an entry like this (there will be examples in there)
192.168.0.100 fred

This will force your windows box to locally resolve that name to that IP address.
Thats the quick and easy fix.

The next fix is a little harder, checkout page 96, 97, and 98 of my guide, (the PDF version), it will show you what changes you can do on your linux box to help ( http://woodel.com ) Pages 96 and 97 for sure, but careful with page 98, if that looks weird to you, skip it for now, you will lose your internet connection if you dont know what to put in there. If this all started when you switched from a DHCP address to a static address, then those pages will help. Then reboot.

The next fix is a little harder still. Make sure your DNS server is a local IP address. This might sounds french to you, or way off base because you probably dont have a DNS server, but alot of people put static openDNS entries in their routers config page, which causes their main DNS entry to be a public one. Do an ipconfig /all from your windows box, and make sure your first DNS entry is your routers private IP address. Then reboot everything on your network, all computers routers printer etc..

The real fix is to setup a DNS server. That is also covered in the guide on my website, but is overkill on a small network.

Anyway, if im way off, let me know :- )

*Thats hosts file will be hidden and read only, dont forget to change it back.

[kayjaygee_13]

Kev, I didn't know http://woodel.com belonged to you. I actually used your guide to get my server up and running, so thank you for that fantastic document.

To answer your questions, let's say my host name is fred.homelinux.org (I'm not sure if it's a good idea to post my real host name in a public forum). Basically, my host name looks exactly like that except, "fred" is replaced by my first name.

I can connect to my server using https://fred.homelinux.org:10000 from any computer (outside of my home) via the Internet and all the Webmin utilities work flawlessly. DHCP on my router has my server's internal IP bound to 192.168.0.100. While I'm at home, if I use my desktop or laptop to connect to https://fred.homelinux.org:10000, the File Manager applet doesn't work. Everything else in Webmin works fine, including the SSH2 Login applet under the "Others" menu in Webmin. On the other hand, if I connect using https://192.168.0.100:10000 on my desktop/laptop, Webmin works flawlessly (including both the File Manager and SSH2 applets).

One thing I haven't tried yet is using my laptop to connect to https://fred.homelinux.org:10000 from outside my home, but like I said, I have tested it from other machines and it works perfectly. Also, as I've mentioned in my previous post, Java is working correctly on both the laptop and desktop, so I don't think that's the issue.

A Google search yielded this link, although I'm not sure if it is of any relevance : http://copilotco.com/mail-archives/w.../msg00601.html

I hope my description above wasn't too confusing. Let me know if it is. Thanks again for your guide and the help.

[kevinthecomputerguy]

Thanks !!!
That’s funny, small world : )
I swing by the Ubuntu Forums every so often to pay my thanks. I have actually had some forums kick me off, label me a spammer, and say im trying to advertise my woodel website. Can you imagine ! I was like ummm… have you looked at my site you idiots !!

Anyway, Ubuntu Forums has been extra cool to me, so I swing by to see if I can help anybody.

That is a weird problem, where the File Manager wont work, but everything else does. I have only seen that a few times.

Once I was messing around with the “trusted refers” in Webmin, trying to tunnel the file manager through one central webmin server, controlling many other webmin servers. I jacked that up and had to reformat.

The other time I saw that was on a 64 bit machine, the Java pluggin would only go to the 32 bit browser, so I had to go to the start menu \ programs, and choose internet explorer 32, because 64 bit wouldn’t bring up the file manager.

Anyway, try…

Try it with just the computer name, leaving off the domain. Example : https://fred:10000

Try your internet explorer 32 bit browser.

And try that hosts file thing, that should force it to act the way you want to. Treating the name the same way it would treat the IP.

But yep, that’s a weird one. I’m running out of idea’s of what it could be.

[kayjaygee_13]

Thanks Kev. I'm using 32-bit Firefox; I'm not sure whether IE is 32 or 64-bit because I rarely use it, but it displays the same behavior. The one thing I haven't tried yet is using my laptop from outside my LAN to see if the applet works when connecting to Webmin using the host name, although I have my doubts. I'll try that tomorrow from work and see what happens. I hope it works because I'll be out of the country next month for a couple weeks and I would really like to have full Webmin functionality with the laptop. If not, I guess I'll have to learn the command line.

[kevinthecomputerguy]

Try I.E. 32
And visit Java.com before hand. I do have SSL and https cert issues with firefox, so that would be a good path to take.

*Webmin works from my cell phone, so keep trying, hopefully its something with your desktop install (hopefully)

Keep us updated \ keep up the good trouble shooting.
-Kev