another xserve question

FredAkbar · Oct 10, 2005

I posted a while back about setting up an Xserve. My teacher did end up getting it set up, and now he's having me help him with a few things. I'm starting to learn more about how having a server works, but one thing I'm curious about is the web server. I got the Xserve's web server turned on, so other computers on the network can access its ~/Sites folder (or whatever folder I specify in the server settings) by typing its IP (the local one, i.e. 172.16.etc.) into Safari, but can people anywhere access it, like with the server's external IP? I think that's what my teacher wants; he wants to have his home page and stuff on his server, rather than the school's, as the school's PC server has been hacked/virused once or twice this school year already. So how do I get the server's external IP, if that's indeed what I need to do here?

robbieduncan · Oct 11, 2005

If you mean you want it to be accessable from outside your school you have a couple of options:

1) The IP assiged to the xserve for the school network is a "real" IP. In this case you need to ensure that the school firewall will let traffic for port 80 get to this IP and you should be able to access the box by IP from anywhere. The next step is to buy a domain and have the DNS point to this IP.

2) The IP assigned to the xserve is a "local" one (ie. 10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x). In this case you need to get the routers/firewall at the school network boundary to do a translation and forward traffic for a specific IP/domain/folder to this IP and port.

FredAkbar · Oct 17, 2005

So if it starts with 172.16, it's definitely an external IP? It doesn't work when I try to access it from home though. So is there definitely a problem with the school's firewall/network? I can access it by typing the IP if I'm on another computer on the server's network, but not from home.

Les Kern · Oct 17, 2005

Buy a domain, and have the IT guy set up his DNS tables to point to that new server. (If he says "it will take too long. I'll get to it sometime" know that he's lying and lazy. It takes exactly 30 seconds to set up... faster if he knows anything at all)
To make it easy have the IT guy put it right on the DMZ or even NOT behind a firewall if can get a static, real IP. Otherwise, if using a NAT, the IT man/woman will have to set up a network address translation. They may balk at that.
Use the Library/WebServer/Documents as the home for the web site... just makes things easier.
Bottom line: Ask for a static IP, a spot on the DMZ, get a domain, have a ball.
BTW, I have 18 Xserves, and that ain't chopped liver!

FredAkbar · Oct 18, 2005

What if the school's tech dept won't help? (I haven't asked yet, but as I mentioned in my other Xserve thread, I don't think they're very Mac-friendly.)

I'll give it a shot though, thanks. I showed my teacher some domain name sites but I figured we'd try to get it accessible by IP even before getting a domain name, since you don't need a domain name to access a site (e.g. 204.68.168.161 takes you to appleturns.com). Or is it easier to set up once we have a registered domain name pointing to that IP?

chucknorris · Oct 18, 2005

FredAkbar said:
What if the school's tech dept won't help? (I haven't asked yet, but as I mentioned in my other Xserve thread, I don't think they're very Mac-friendly.)

I've found that school IT people are very helpful for boosting your confidence with Macs.

After talking to three or four professionals about the same problem and realizing you know more than all of them, you begin to feel like a regular OS X whiz.

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