by tuigii » Fri Jul 13, 2007 5:15 am
Found your PM - and as an exception I will reply, because your question has nothing to do with WoWRoster what so ever.
When your baby is up and running you could say "I'm happy now" but the biggest goal is and rests: How can everybody use (reach ?!) it ...?
You have to set up a couple of things:
1) Everybody have to know where you server lives.
That can be as simple as sending everybody (whom it may concern) your WAN ip. It's as simple as that. And it just works without any hassle.
But: Many internet connections haven't a fixed IP: it changes all the time.
So :
2) Use a DynDNS service to make something work so that NO-IP knows that "zmu.no-ip.org" point to your WAN-IP (which, of course, isn't 127.0.0.1 - this is a so called non-routable IP - only visible on YOUR local PC and it means something like "address myself").
Please note that you have to have program, a service installed on one of your local LAN PC'(s) (your internet WAN device might offers this functionality also) that test permanently your WAN IP - and informs NO-IP when it changes. Like this, your WAN-IP always point to you - or, to be more exact: to your PC that hosts your server (could be any server type) - in your case a simple web server.
Your not there yet, because:
3) You have to inform your gateway/router/cable moden/adsl modem [pppoa mode] (I omitted many terms here) that incoming connections should be routed / translated to the internal LAN IP, like x.x.x.x:80 => 192.168.1.2:80 : your WoWRoster server.
This implies two thing : your firewall should accept connection coming in on port 80 on your WAN IP and your NAT (=Network address translator) should 'translate' incoming connection on port 80 (the http 'web' port !) to 192.168.1.2, port 80 - that where your server is living.
Be clever and understand that if your PC has also a firewall (as XP has) it should be informed also to let in connection on port 80.
Now the interesting part : we are in 2007 and 'drilling holes in a SOHO network/internet setup is being handled by all the kids on this planet already. That why all this P2P activity exists on the net : they had to open up their firewalls on a similar way. The how? Simple, but every type of connection and every type of appliances uses its own interface and techniques.
Basically, it boils down on what I said just before. Even if you have a PIX 420, or a simple Linksys Cable modem : the procedure is always the same.
You have to understand and apply this action, otherwise no home server what so ever will ever be used by other 'from the net'.
The foot notes:
1) Why on earth are you bothering yourself with these kinds of setups?
rent a complete web server for a mere 10 box a yaer. ou'll be having your "www.mean-and-lean-guild dot com", a couple of emails along with it, your SQL data base running - nearly no maintenance - a nearly 100 % uptime (your is down right now !)
Only a dev could use a home setup like this for testing purposes. Resetting, and upload an entire WoWRoster site, a complete Guild CMS and other gadgets are often dozens of megabytes, and FTP is fast, but not that fast. A local hard disk drag an copy to install an entire site in on snap is easier in that special case.
2) Security: let's face it: on of our PC's is exposed on the internet on port 80. One should never do so - AND I SHOULD WRITE THIS IN CAPS IF YOUR RUNNING AN MS OS. Because you just don't control your system the way it should be controlled. Scipt kiddys will do so, and rather sooner then later. This item could be less important if you’re running your server on a DMZ, but then you wouldn't have asked the question above. You would already be network minded....
3) Some ISP just BLOCK port 80 - (port 110, port 21, 25, 443 etc) so please read the contract [reading makes people wiser].
Note also that you said that you could contact your own PC from the 127.0.0.1 IP. There is one more IP that can be used : the LAN IP like 192.168.1.2 or 10.0.0.10!!
Try that out - it must be working also - otherwise, check the setup of your web server (INI files or what so ever). If this is a no-go, then make this work first.
Buy your self an USP - and when it's up, don't touch it any more.
All my servers don't have any keyboard, no screen, no mouse, no nothing.
They have: a power supply cable and a network connection cable. Period.
This rule is important if you want that your server well be used by others: it should be UP all the time (and 99,998 is a bear minimum as an up time).
Why: patience for a dead internet link has come down to 1 second in 2007. People go else where if they receive a "Internet Explorer can't show this page" error. And they won't be coming back.
[Except if your popular, but, if that's the case, you REALLY don't wana run a home server, and you would know why!!).
Still convinced? Ok, let’s do it – make it work.
And while you’re at it, install a TS server, a CMS, and so on ….
