Apache & public access

I just set up Apache to host a website at an organization, and while
the site is visible over the LAN, it's not publicly visible.

I'm new to this stuff, and I can't figure out how to tackle this
problem. There is a firewall on the network, but I turned it off
completely to test the website and it still wasn't visible outside the
network.

Everyone on the LAN has been using
http://ip_addr/pagename.htm
successfully, and I thought this would work publicly too. Is there
anything in Apache that needs to be configured or set to allow outside
access? Or is there some network setting I must be missing?

Thanks!

On 19 Jul 2004 17:09:00 -0700, ragazza68@hotmail.com (L) wrote:

>I just set up Apache to host a website at an organization, and while
>the site is visible over the LAN, it's not publicly visible.
>
>I'm new to this stuff, and I can't figure out how to tackle this
>problem. There is a firewall on the network, but I turned it off
>completely to test the website and it still wasn't visible outside the
>network.
>
>Everyone on the LAN has been using
>http://ip_addr/pagename.htm
>successfully, and I thought this would work publicly too. Is there
>anything in Apache that needs to be configured or set to allow outside
>access? Or is there some network setting I must be missing?
>

You haven't given much detail about how the network is arranged in
this environment.

I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark that the organisation has a
single IP address and a private network using private-use IP addresses
in one of the three reserved ranges. Access to the Internet is through
a router performing some form of source NAT. The router is the only
host with a valid Internet IP address.

In this configuration, Apache must either run on the router or you
must arrange for the router to pass packets destined for port 80 on
the router to be handed back to your web server using destination NAT.

If I guessed your situation right, hopefully that's enough to get you
started. I won't go into any more detail just in case the network is
nothing like my guess, which was based on a very common case which
causes similar questions in this group.

All the best,
-Claire

Claire Tucker <fake@invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:<tkqrf093m9oqo01ou028lf3vnomjnemejh@4ax.com>. ..
> On 19 Jul 2004 17:09:00 -0700, ragazza68@hotmail.com (L) wrote:
>
> >I just set up Apache to host a website at an organization, and while
> >the site is visible over the LAN, it's not publicly visible.
> >
> >I'm new to this stuff, and I can't figure out how to tackle this
> >problem. There is a firewall on the network, but I turned it off
> >completely to test the website and it still wasn't visible outside the
> >network.
> >
> >Everyone on the LAN has been using
> >http://ip_addr/pagename.htm
> >successfully, and I thought this would work publicly too. Is there
> >anything in Apache that needs to be configured or set to allow outside
> >access? Or is there some network setting I must be missing?
> >
>
> You haven't given much detail about how the network is arranged in
> this environment.
>
> I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark that the organisation has a
> single IP address and a private network using private-use IP addresses
> in one of the three reserved ranges. Access to the Internet is through
> a router performing some form of source NAT. The router is the only
> host with a valid Internet IP address.
>
> In this configuration, Apache must either run on the router or you
> must arrange for the router to pass packets destined for port 80 on
> the router to be handed back to your web server using destination NAT.
>
> If I guessed your situation right, hopefully that's enough to get you
> started. I won't go into any more detail just in case the network is
> nothing like my guess, which was based on a very common case which
> causes similar questions in this group.
>
> All the best,
> -Claire

Ok. I have a similar problem.
I have Apache2 running on a proliant 3000r running windows 2000 pro. I
can view the site(s) locally but not outside of the LAN. My router is
setup to pass requests to the proliant on port 80. I have also tried
the DMZ setting on my router which is like you said before "sitting on
the router".
I think perhaps it may be a configuration error on my part. I fought
with it for a week so now im finally asking for help hehe.

any ideas?
-Niteshade

On 25 Jul 2004 11:34:01 -0700, stalker_51@hotmail.com (Niteshade)
wrote:
>
>I have Apache2 running on a proliant 3000r running windows 2000 pro. I
>can view the site(s) locally but not outside of the LAN. My router is
>setup to pass requests to the proliant on port 80. I have also tried
>the DMZ setting on my router which is like you said before "sitting on
>the router".
>I think perhaps it may be a configuration error on my part. I fought
>with it for a week so now im finally asking for help hehe.
>

Well, I can't really guess what might be up here, but here are some
ideas:

* Your ISP is actively blocking port 80 to stop users from running web
servers. You might like to try forwarding a different Internet-facing
port, preferably something high up which your ISP is unlikely to have
blocked. (a stateful firewall could block them, but I doubt most ISPs
go that far) This won't help you run a server on port 80, but it'll at
least tell you whether it's your ISP's fault it's not working.

* You have Apache bound only to localhost, not to the network-facing
interface. You say you can view sites "locally" but I don't know if
that means from other hosts on your LAN or from the box running the
server. If you can access it from other hosts on your LAN then this is
most likely not the problem.

* You configured your router incorrectly. I can't offer any advice
here, since I've no idea what you are using as a router and even if I
did I probably wouldn't be familiar with the product. ;)

Best regards,
-Claire