Not as smart as I thought...DNS

[whardy7]

I thought I had DNS down and was pretty proud of myself, but evidently I don't. I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong.

I've been using Reid Bundonis' book on setting up Yosemite Server on a new Mac Mini. He emphasizes getting the DNS right and I see the importance. I went step by step through his scenario and when I was done, every test he said to run to insure I had it set up right returned the perfect result.

My problem is nothing is seeing my server from the outside. I had VPN working great I thought, but I think it was because I was on my own network. Once I went offsite and used my home wifi, it couldn't find my server.

I have a static ip address from our ISP that I entered into the Airport Extreme. My AE also has DNS Server entries - 1 that points to my server and one that points to a server my ISP provides.
The Yosemite Server has a static ip of 192.168.1.46 and ties to our host name of my1.mycompany.com (fake name).http://www.mycompany.com is actually our website hosted by BlueHost. Hostname from Terminal confirms that it sees my1.mycompany.com as the host, as does nslookup.

What actually allows me to see my server from the outside? Where is this connection made? What am I missing?

 

[crazzyeddie]

You need to create an A Record in Bluehost for your server:

my1.mycompany.com *static IP from ISP*

 

[chrfr]

My problem is nothing is seeing my server from the outside. I had VPN working great I thought, but I think it was because I was on my own network. Once I went offsite and used my home wifi, it couldn't find my server.

Do you have the appropriate ports forwarded on your router?

 

[whardy7]

I will create the A record and see if that helps.

As far as I know, I have the proper ports forwarded for VPN. I will double check. I created those in the AE.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[whardy7]

I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

I created the A record in BlueHost to my1.mycompany.com using the static IP from my ISP provider. I did that last night and it says it takes 4 hours to propagate. I'm not sure how to tell if it has or not. Nothing on my network has changed.

I also double-checked that I have forwarded ports on the AE and they are.

Any other ideas? I'm really trying to study DNS more today, as it appears I don't really have it down. I thought I was getting it (

Thank you for any help.

whardy7

 

[jsavvy]

Try running the dig command in terminal from both inside and out of your network.

Ex. dig my1.mycompany.com

from outside your network you should get the IP address from your ISP

From inside your network the result may be the same or return the local ip of your server. Reply back with the results of each.

 

[mvmanolov]

in the VPN field of the server app there is a section on DNS, you have to make sure that there you have the ip address of the server and nothing else.

also check these guides out, i found them exceptionally helpful:

http://krypted.com/guides/yosemite-server/

https://www.yesdevnull.net

good luck

 

[whardy7]

Thank you for the replies. I've been away from the server, so I can't check some of those.

As for running DIG outside my local network, it returned the ip address the ISP assigned to me.

 

[jsavvy]

If running DIG from outside your network is giving you the IP address from your ISP then it is not a DNS problem. Someone already mentioned making sure the correct ports are opened or forwarded for the service you need, which would be my next recommendation. If the correct ports are open the most likely issue is your VPN settings.

Here is a link to the ports apple uses. It says the VPN may take up to 4 ports depending on what you want to use. http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202944

 

[whardy7]

I thought I would report back to what my problem ended up being in order to help someone else. I added the L2TP by choosing it in the Airport Extreme and I trusted it to choose the right ports. All it chose was 1701. I discovered later that I had to manually add 500 and 4500 to that.

After that, it connected right up.

 

[jsavvy]

Thanks for the update. I'm glad it was a simple fix.