[Paul2412]

I'm wanting to host a few websites from home, primarily because I'm using some BETA Microsoft software (.NET 4 and EF) and don't want to install it on my production server which is hosted at eukhost.com.

Basically, I'm completely new to this sort of thing. So far, here is what I've done:

Registered the domain name at namecheap.com (let's call it mydomain.com)

Gone to "Nameserver Registration" in the panel and entered my IP address for the NS1 and NS2 records (let's say the IP is 0.0.0.0).

Gone to "Domain Name Server Setup" and entered ns1.mydomain.com & ns2.mydomain.com

Forwarded requests from port 80 to my internal IP (let's say 192.168.1.254)

Created the website in IIS (I'm just testing with a single website so far, so have not created any host header values)

Now, if I type in the IP address (http://0.0.0.0) I get the site as expected. However, if I enter http://www.mydomain.com I get an error saying "DNS Error - Cannot find server".

I'm aware that there is a service from DynDNS that will automatically change the IP if I have a dynamic address, however my IP has remained static since I installed the ISP (since October) so I don't need this.

Is there any way that I can get the DNS to work just by configuring IIS or something in Windows? I don't really want to have to pay for any 3rd party service.

Thanks,

[ian_cognito]

I don't think you need to change your dns servers, set them back to default. You should be able to enter your IP address under an option like change web server or be able to enter your IP address for A records on mydomain.com, ftp and www. I have never used namecheap.com so don't know the actual settings.

Any changes you do make can take 24 - 48 hours to update so will probably not work straight away.

Hope this helps.

[Ghozer]

yeah, like ian said... but also be aware that dns and domain changes (especially if your changing the name servers) can take up to 48 hours to propagate round the globe, and how long ago did you register the domain? its up to 72 hours from registration to be active..

[dosxuk]

Also, when you are inside your network you need to access the local address of the server, not the external address of your router. I've got this set up by using the hosts file.

[Paul2412]

Thanks, when I set the nameserver back to Namecheap and then pointed the A record to my IP it worked fine.

[sccsux]

Originally Posted by dosxuk

Also, when you are inside your network you need to access the local address of the server, not the external address of your router. I've got this set up by using the hosts file.

Or use a web based proxy like anonymouse.

[anywebsite]

unless you're running your own dns server (not recommended), you need to use namecheap for the dns for the domain, those servers should be set as the ns1 & ns2 records, then you'll need to get namecheap to point the a record on those servers to your ip. if you want to forward mail to your own mailserver, you'll need to point the mx record to your ip too.

sounds like you've got it fixed now.