Incoming noob web question...

Whilst my primary role at work is production/logistics management, I do also do some SQL/ASP coding, building a web portal for staff to log in and do more customised/advanced queries to our database, etc.

The coding side of things is fine, but making the site available on the internet is where my knowledge trails off. When this was initially set up, I had a 3rd party set up the A record, DNS, etc. This all worked fine.

I'm currently setting up a duplicate site which will be my "in development" version that I use to test new features as I code them, before copying them to the "live" version that everyone else logs into.

With my limited knowledge, I've gone into IIS Manager and set up the new web site (pointing it to the correct folder on the server that contains the site), and also into DNS Management and set up a Forward Lookup Zone (trying to copy settings that I could find on the original site).

This works for accessing the site when I'm on the LAN, but I can't access the site via the web - I get a "server cannot be found" error.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I may have missed or done wrong? I'm just trying to avoid dragging the 3rd party in again, and also I'd just like to learn how to do this for myself hah!

We're running Windows SBS 2003, which has IIS v6 installed on it (yes, we're well overdue for a server upgrade )

My condolences.

Is this with an external DNS host, ie, your domain name registrar? Or does your company maintain its own DNS servers?

If this is an internal DNS server, it's entirely possible that the DNS server that the rest of the internet looks to for DNS information, which may be your registrar, doesn't know about this domain/subdomain.

Here's something you can try:

Code:

See if it ends up where you expect.

Edit: Also, make sure that you waited long enough. DNS propagation can take hours, depending on the TTL of the domain's info.

Heh I actually don't mind the coding side of it too much, but yeah with the more advanced reports the interpreting speed can be a little patience testing..

Hmm I would say this is the issue - I recall Matt (the guy helping me last time) trying to work out who handles our domains/subdomains for some reason, probably to let them know about the new subdomain! I'll look into this

It's been around 48 hours, so I imagine this shouldn't be the problem, hopefully!

Thanks Kerm, that gives me something to work with