Intranet Web sites - need help

I would like to create several websites on one Win2K3 IIS server and
have users reach them by simply typing http://site1, http://site2,
etc..

I guess I've read so much about this that I'm confused. I understand
that it is possible and is even referenced in the Win2K MCSE Training
Kit - Windows 2000 Server, p 860. It says it can be done but it seems as
if it's a massive effort to avoid disclosing just how with real world
examples of setting up websites as such in an Intranet. All the examples
refer to internet sites.

I've created a couple simple one page websites to test with.

I've installed DNS Server and created a forward lookup zone to point to
my ISP DNS servers. I've configured the clients to point to this DNS
server. It works.


What I have been struggling with is this Host Headers concept and trying
to map a simple single-word name to an inernal IP address.

We don't have AD installed but will probably promote our server to a DC
in the near future and start using AD.

So.. I don't have a "domain" so to speak to setup DNS with.. I just
made one up when installing DNS. Remember this is all internal and
there is no intent for any of these sites to be available from the
internet.

So why can't I get a http://site1 and http://site2 without the
"zone.com" suffix needing to be appended ? I've read so many
references that this is possible but no examples of this anywhere.

I have :

- One server - Server01. Running DNS Server & IIS.
- Web sites: site1 & site2
- Host Header names for each site of site1 & site2 respectively that
point to the server's IP address.
- DNS Zone: TestZone
- Host Record: Site1 - pointing to the IP address of Server01

I can't reach the site with http://site1 but I can reach the site by
entering http://site1.testzone

This is driving me nuts.. Why can't I create a single-word host record
that points to an IP address and forget the rest of it? I would like
our users to be able to type http://site1 without having to qualify it
with the zone/domain suffix..

I prefer not to use hosts files or appending suffixes or touch the
client TCP/IP configs at all (although at this point it would be easier)
because we are likely to setup AD soon and I would like a dns server-
only solution.

I've read Q324260 & Q323445 and numerous other resources and I follow
them until the point of creating the host record in the DNS server..
Then I say to myself.. well HOW ? and HOW do I get this to work?

Obviously this is more of a DNS question..

Are there any comprehensive yet easy to follow guidelines for doing this
? A book maybe (besides anything MSPRess) that would help?

If we don't own a domain then how can I set up DNS so that we don't have
to refer to blah.com or something nonexistant domain and have to type
blah.com to the suffix of any of our internal websites?

Thanks

Any help would be appreciated..

Bryan

Re: Intranet Web sites - need help

Hi,

None of this seems to be an IIS issue. What you seem to be struggling with
is "name resolution" (resolving a name to an IP address)

Now, server1 isn't a valid FQDN (fully qualified domain name) as far as I
know. so you're going to have to do a few tricks to get this working with
your setup.

a) You can edit the HOSTS file on each client PC. Add an entry:
server1 10.10.10.10
(where 10.10.10.10 is the IP address of your webserver). Obviously this
approach is not very scalable

b) Create an arbitrary forward lookup zone in the DNS server you created
Call it something like:
yourCompany.local

Inside that zone, create A or CNAME records that point server1 and
server2 -> Ip address of your server.

Now, on your client machines, configure the network adapters to append the
"yourCompany.local" as a DNS suffix. This will allow users to use "server1"
as a servername, and the client PC will append yourCompany.local to the end
(making server1.yourCompany.local)

c) I'm not sure what you said when you said you created a forward lookup
zone to your ISP's DNS servers. If you meant you configured "forwarders"
then you're OK. If you actually configued a forward lookup zone, then I
think you've done the wrong thing, and need to reconsider what you are
doing.

Cheers
Ken





"Jake" wrote in message
news:Xns997AB5285E1E6Bryanbahotmailcom@66.250.146.128...
>I would like to create several websites on one Win2K3 IIS server and
> have users reach them by simply typing http://site1, http://site2,
> etc..
>
> I guess I've read so much about this that I'm confused. I understand
> that it is possible and is even referenced in the Win2K MCSE Training
> Kit - Windows 2000 Server, p 860. It says it can be done but it seems as
> if it's a massive effort to avoid disclosing just how with real world
> examples of setting up websites as such in an Intranet. All the examples
> refer to internet sites.
>
> I've created a couple simple one page websites to test with.
>
> I've installed DNS Server and created a forward lookup zone to point to
> my ISP DNS servers. I've configured the clients to point to this DNS
> server. It works.
>
>
> What I have been struggling with is this Host Headers concept and trying
> to map a simple single-word name to an inernal IP address.
>
> We don't have AD installed but will probably promote our server to a DC
> in the near future and start using AD.
>
> So.. I don't have a "domain" so to speak to setup DNS with.. I just
> made one up when installing DNS. Remember this is all internal and
> there is no intent for any of these sites to be available from the
> internet.
>
> So why can't I get a http://site1 and http://site2 without the
> "zone.com" suffix needing to be appended ? I've read so many
> references that this is possible but no examples of this anywhere.
>
> I have :
>
> - One server - Server01. Running DNS Server & IIS.
> - Web sites: site1 & site2
> - Host Header names for each site of site1 & site2 respectively that
> point to the server's IP address.
> - DNS Zone: TestZone
> - Host Record: Site1 - pointing to the IP address of Server01
>
> I can't reach the site with http://site1 but I can reach the site by
> entering http://site1.testzone
>
> This is driving me nuts.. Why can't I create a single-word host record
> that points to an IP address and forget the rest of it? I would like
> our users to be able to type http://site1 without having to qualify it
> with the zone/domain suffix..
>
> I prefer not to use hosts files or appending suffixes or touch the
> client TCP/IP configs at all (although at this point it would be easier)
> because we are likely to setup AD soon and I would like a dns server-
> only solution.
>
> I've read Q324260 & Q323445 and numerous other resources and I follow
> them until the point of creating the host record in the DNS server..
> Then I say to myself.. well HOW ? and HOW do I get this to work?
>
> Obviously this is more of a DNS question..
>
> Are there any comprehensive yet easy to follow guidelines for doing this
> ? A book maybe (besides anything MSPRess) that would help?
>
> If we don't own a domain then how can I set up DNS so that we don't have
> to refer to blah.com or something nonexistant domain and have to type
> blah.com to the suffix of any of our internal websites?
>
> Thanks
>
> Any help would be appreciated..
>
> Bryan
>
>