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Masking my URL

C

chiefroastbeef

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 26, 2008
909
0
Dallas, Texas/ Hong Kong
Hello guys,

My website is currently on a friend's server space, and my domain is from Godaddy. I've forwarded my godaddy domain to the server link, which is great, but however, the url is still www.myfriendsserver.com/something. I'd tried the masking feature with Godaddy, but for some reason it doesn't work, and Godaddy tech told me something on my pages is rejecting the masking function, plus I hear using frames to mask a website is a no no.

Do I have any other solution to this problem? I've looked at .htaccess, frames and such.

Thanks for the help!
 
Sounds like you have an iWeb created site, correct? It has been brought up in the forums before if this is the case. Take a search.
 
Hello,

No I used to have an iweb site, and godaddy Cname thing worked great, this site is created with dreamweaver. The link is www.chinahandsunited.org , it is forwarded to my friend's server space, but is there a way I can mask the server url so it'll read www.chinahandsunited.org/something?

If I had godaddy host my site will it solve the problem? After an exhaustive search, I seem to be out of solutions.

Thanks!
 
Hey there,

I've already tried that, forwarding works great, but masking doesn't work. I've already exchanged a 5 email conversation with their tech support, and they are telling me masking won't work for me because of some scripting on my pages(i've done it, waited two days, but the URLs didn't mask). Plus Godaddy uses frame for their URL mask, I rather not go that route.

Are there other solutions? I've been reading on Mod_rewrite right now.

I appreciate your help!
 
Ok, lets make sure we understand the problem before hastily posting.

Ideally, you want

Currently, you are using godaddy's "forwarding." This essentially means that when you go to www.chinahandsunited.org, you actually connect to a godaddy webserver and that webserver tells you to instead go to http://inprocess.ca/sam/. This doesn't really utilize DNS to its fullest potential.

If what I suggested (the 'ideal' bit) is what you're looking for, what you need to do is change your "A" record for www.chinahandsunited.org so it points at your friend's server. His server will probably need a little configuration for this to work. If it's a raw configuration, he needs to setup a "Virtual host" for you. If it's through a webhost, they probably have a utility for doing this.

If this sounds like it's what you're looking for, just let us know. Lots of people (and myself) could lead you through doing this.
 
Hello,

That is exactly what I am asking for! Sorry if I haven't been clear. I will ask my friend for the server info. So I should ask him whether the server is a virtual host or webhost? I actually tried to point www.chinahandsunited.org at my friends server in the DNS thing, and it brought me to a blank page with "Server9" on it. Just like when you click this link www.chinahandsunited.com .

I can't believe what a mess this is, iweb and godaddy was a piece of strawberry shortcake compared to this...(delicious)...

If I were to buy server space and host my site from godaddy, would it solve the URL issue?

Thanks alot guys for your willingness to help!
 
Haha, not a problem. It took me a long time to figure this exact problem out myself.

Basically, you have to let your friend's server know that is should be www.chinahandsunited.org. While buying your hosting from godaddy would solve the issue, it's not necessary.

If you still want to let your friend host it, going about configuring the server is fairly easy.

If he runs his very own server, he'll have to setup a virtual host with the proper document root. (I think it may have been IIS, but there should still be something similar to a "virtual host".)

If he is buying his hosting from a webhosting company, they usually have some sort of utility where you enter the domain name and what directory the site is in. Make sure they support hosting multiple domains on a single account. Most places do support this now, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Either way, you'll have to point the A record back at his server.​

Hope this helps. If you need more help, we're still here. :)
 
chiefroastbeef said:
Hello,

No I used to have an iweb site, and godaddy Cname thing worked great, this site is created with dreamweaver. The link is www.chinahandsunited.org , it is forwarded to my friend's server space, but is there a way I can mask the server url so it'll read www.chinahandsunited.org/something?

If I had godaddy host my site will it solve the problem? After an exhaustive search, I seem to be out of solutions.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

If this is your friend's server and he's running Apache, the most workable solution is to enable Virtual Hosts. Search for apache vhost on google.
 
This is a genuine problem. It's the type of problem a forum and not a search engine can solve. You could spend hours searching for the solution and never figure it out. It's just the nature of the problem.

Don't bother searching for "apache vhost." As I suspected above, the server is running IIS, not apache. They might even call them "IIS virtual hosts" as they would "Apache virtual hosts." Same thing, just different configuration.
 
Yep, and thanks to people like you folks, making my life easier. I spent way too long on searching for .htaccess redirect, and mod_rewrite. That would really help me would it for my situation?

Still waiting for my friend...

Thanks again!
 
chiefroastbeef said:
That would really help me would it for my situation?
Click to expand...

I think you meant "wouldn't." IIS doesn't naturally have any use for .htaccess files and the like, but I think people have created libraries that mimic certain aspects of the Apache web server, like the mod_rewrite. Though unless your friend has these things installed, it won't help currently. Still though, not a bad thing to have knowledge about in case you ever get moved over to an Apache server. I much refer Apache over IIS.

I'll be curious to hear the final solution. I was confused about the specific problem at the start of thread, but thankfully more knowledgeable people came along. I have an idea about how to solve it, but never have done this so keeping my mouth shut so as not to create more problems. :D
 
@OP:

I want to go on record here stating the advice I gave you was the easiest to accomplish what you described. Sounds like in the past godaddy tech support only setup forwarding as exabytes18 noted regardless of what they told you over the phone, BTW, you don't need frames for forwarding or masking. If you look at the instructions in the masking link I gave you, it mentions 301 and 302 HTTP responses - those are the redirect methods, no mention of "frames".

So the "optimum" solution is to follow both links below, set it up exactly as they suggest on their web site, and in the following order (do it all yourself):

Domain Forwarding - deals with A record for non-parked domains, URL redirection

Domain Masking - after forwarding is setup, then set this up so the browser URL does what you want

Anything else you do based on advice here is another way of doing it, which is fine, but the godaddy procedure is (to me) the easiest way and you manage the whole thing via their web site. A scalable, centralized solution (at godaddy's web site). That's why I called it "optimum", above. Okay, you got the runaround at their tech support - so I added the link to focus you on the right path.

After following both links above and it still doesn't work then you contact godaddy tech support again, but this time ask for a manager there (escalate!) and tell them you want both forwarding and masking to avoid further confusion.

-jim
 
I have a fix

Hi I had an issue like this and I switched my DNS hosting to http://dyndns.org they offer the ability to setup Internet based dynamic DNS so you can resolve back to your home systems from your domain. They also offer WebHop Redirect's which is what you want. You can set the redirect up to be anything you want, but it looks like it is on your domain.

I suggest you check them out if you have more advanced DNS needs.

Also IIS does offer the ability to set something up like a vhost. If you do not want to leave Godaddy.

Just my thoughts...
 
SrWebDeveloper said:
@OP:

I want to go on record here stating the advice I gave you was the easiest to accomplish what you described. Sounds like in the past godaddy tech support only setup forwarding as exabytes18 noted regardless of what they told you over the phone, BTW, you don't need frames for forwarding or masking. If you look at the instructions in the masking link I gave you, it mentions 301 and 302 HTTP responses - those are the redirect methods, no mention of "frames".

So the "optimum" solution is to follow both links below, set it up exactly as they suggest on their web site, and in the following order (do it all yourself):

Domain Forwarding - deals with A record for non-parked domains, URL redirection

Domain Masking - after forwarding is setup, then set this up so the browser URL does what you want

Anything else you do based on advice here is another way of doing it, which is fine, but the godaddy procedure is (to me) the easiest way and you manage the whole thing via their web site. A scalable, centralized solution (at godaddy's web site). That's why I called it "optimum", above. Okay, you got the runaround at their tech support - so I added the link to focus you on the right path.

After following both links above and it still doesn't work then you contact godaddy tech support again, but this time ask for a manager there (escalate!) and tell them you want both forwarding and masking to avoid further confusion.

-jim
Click to expand...

Hello Jim,

Every thread I've started on this forum you've given a helpful answer, I appreciate it, macrumors don't pay you guys? :)

I am currently using godaddy forwarding, which works great. I've also tried their masking last week, for some reason, it only worked for the Index page, and it was on frames(boo). I then emailed godaddy tech support, and they just told me masking won't work with my site because of some script I'm using. That is why I am asking you guys for alternatives.

Here is what tech support wrote:

This issue would most likely not be resolved by switching to our hosting servers as, while you can still use forwarding and masking with custom coding in a page, the page you are forwarding to seems to be rejecting the masking on different pages of the site you're forwarding to.

If you were referring to hosting the site you're forwarding to with our services, then please note that if you use the same custom script it might cause the masking not to work correctly. We would need to know exactly how you'd like to use our hosting services to resolve this issue in order to properly assist you.

You can also contact your website provider regarding the custom code that seems to be interfering with the masking. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please let us know if we can assist you in any other way.


I am still waiting for an answer from my friend, if I don't get an answer from him, what should I do? Switch to dyndns.org like tscholle suggests? Or just buy server space with godaddy?
 
I'm skeptical that combining GoDaddy's masking and forwarding would work regardless. Won't it still rely on frames to hide the url (http://inprocess.ca/sam/~~~~~~.asp)? It might just be me being stubborn and thinking that the host server has to respond (all by itself) to requests which specify the host as www.chinahandsunited.org. (What I'd argue is the optimal solution.)

You're getting the runaround with GoDaddy again. I'm guessing they are thinking that you'd setup an account separate from the one you're hosting your domains on.... then you'd mask&&forward the domain you bought over to your hosting you also bought from them. That'd be a moronic setup.

I'm fairly certain you can buy hosting for your domain through their control panel; in which case they'd configure everything all nicely so you wouldn't have to worry about any of this.

A completely different alternative is a facebook-esque solution. You essentially setup a proxy server and let it act as a middle-man. It would completely hide the actual server producing the content (your friend's server). -- I advise against this technique. I listed it only for completeness. -- It's the way Facebook Apps get served up.
 
@OP:

Godaddy's URL masking works by creating a 0-pixel frame at the top (with the URL of your domain) plus a full-page frame at the bottom with the forwarded web-site in it, so it creates the frames, not you. Meaning, do not add frames anywhere on either site.

When the godaddy tech guy said, "the page you are forwarding to seems to be rejecting the masking on different pages of the site you're forwarding to" then I'd need to know what script is causing that on those different pages. If you have Javascript that breaks out of frames on one of those differernt forwarded pages, remove it, for example. The forwarded site does not have be a godaddy site. For me to help you further regarding godaddy, I need the direct link to one of those "different" pages to see what might be causing the masking failure.

Otherwise go with exabytes18's solution which is more complex but the obvious choice if either you can't identify the script causing masking to fail or you're just sick and tired of gadaddy at this point.

-jim
 
Guys, once again thank you for the replies!

My friend wrote me back, and he explained that he couldn't point the server to my URL because he doesn't have control over it.

So I guess the way to go now is to buy hosting from Godaddy? Which I am okay with.

Sr.- My friend taught me how to use server side includes with .asp. Do you want me to copy and paste some of my codes for you to see?

Thanks again guys for your suggestions and solutions, amazing!
 
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