Public Server w/DynDNS & Alternate Listen Port

[bincho]

I recently got UniServer configured as a public server with dynamic DNS redirection to an alternate port with the help of AlleyKat. My computer is connected directly to the internet but my ISP happens to block port 80. After tweaking some files and getting it working perfectly, I decided it was time to post the information. Two assumptions will be made here. One: the computer this is being configured on has an internet IP address, which means you are not behind a NAT/router. Two: You've got UniServer unpacked and are ready to go.

 

The first step is to actually make Apache listen on the alternate port. I used port 81, and that seems to be the typical alternative. To change this, edit the http.conf file located in diskw\usr\local\Apache2\conf. There are two lines that need to be changed in the default file.

Listen 80

Change it to:

Listen 81

The other line is:

ServerName localhost:80

Which should be changed to:

ServerName localhost:81

 

After these changes have been made the Apache server will now allow connections on port 81. The next step is to allow outsiders to view the home directory and all subdirectories, because right now they are forbidden from doing so. Go to diskw\www and open .htaccess, then comment out the following three lines:

Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
Allow from 127.0.0.1

Like so:

#Order Deny,Allow
#Deny from all
#Allow from 127.0.0.1

 

The only directory(s) this change affects is the one it resides in and any subdirectories.

Now you can start your server and it will function, but there are still a few problems to work out. If you load the administrator page, and it actually works, then anything you attempt to change that affects the server will probably not work. This is because the administrator page doesn't know to check port 81. To fix this we have to change the redirect page that is loaded when the server starts. If you manually navigated to http://localhost:81/a/ then you probably wouldn't have this problem, but the default page still needs to be fixed. The redirect page that needs to be altered is located in diskw\home\admin\WWW, so navigate there and open redirect.html. The redirect.html in the base UniServer folder is not used by start.bat, at least not in version 3.2.

There are two lines that should be changed here, and they are as follows:

 

window.location = 'http://localhost/a/';

To:

window.location = 'http://localhost:81/a/';

And:

<center><a href="http://localhost/a/">Go to main page</a></center>

To:

<center><a href="http://localhost:81/a/">Go to main page</a></center>

 

After that the default administrator page should work just fine. There is one last thing to fix, though. If you tried to shutdown the server from the admin page you would be rejected due to a small script that checks to make sure the address requesting the shutdown is a local one. I don't believe that completely removing the check would be a good idea, so let's change the offending line of code to check for the new address. Navigate to diskw\home\admin\CGI and open secure.pm, then change the following part of the long line:

 

http[s]?:\/\/localhost\/a/

To:

http[s]?:\/\/localhost:81\/a/

 

Unless I forgot something that just about sums it up. Oh, and if you want free dynamic DNS redirection to a specific IP address, the WebHop option from DynDNS.com offers the functionality required to redirect to a specific address.

 

Just checked phpMyAdmin and that was broke as well, but it has an easy fix. Navigate to diskw\home\admin\WWW\phpMyAdmin-2.6.0-beta2. Open config.inc.php and change the following.

$cfg['PmaAbsoluteUri'] = 'http://localhost/a/phpMyAdmin-2.6.0-beta2/';

To:

$cfg['PmaAbsoluteUri'] = 'http://localhost:81/a/phpMyAdmin-2.6.0-beta2/';

[olajideolaolorun]

Thanks Bincho.

 

Please note some of the settings do not need changing like the port. You can leave it to port 80 if you like (which is normally what people use).

 

Also, some of this things will be changed by 3.3. The phpMyAdmin location will not need to be changed since it is going to be retrieved directly from PHP and some other things.

 

Thanks again

[dennooze]

Thanks for the instructions here, I tried so hard to get it running within my

 

network domain but no avail. Manage to search the forum post which leads to this post thanks to olajideolaolorun.

 

How do I get the uniformserver to work if I have another Apache server running on the same IP address (this apache server I got no way to combine it with this due to the silly software programmer who design my company's software made the settings screwed up) ?

 

My company is using a fix IP address. I'm trying to setup a message board for internal use and also for my colleagues that's roaming outside of office.

 

Need some advice on how to get this running and able to reflect another web server to the internet.

 

Thanks.

[dennooze]

Ok, I have managed to get it running on to the web server and it's propagating to the internet. But now My Invision Power board looks so funny without so many of the pictures and even the normal icons you are having in this forum.

 

Btw I'm using IPB v2.3.1. I'm not sure if this board version is compatible with uniformserver. But then loading it in the server itself is OK. But when I'm use other PC to view the server's IPB board, that's where the problem kicks in. Missing images and icons. Totally no graphics at all.

 

Am I doing something wrong ? I really need help in this matter as I'm helping my company to setup this for their technical support. Thanks.

[olajideolaolorun]

You probably set it up with localhost instead of using http://your-domain

[dennooze]

Does that mean I need to change the server address instead of localhost to http://localhost or my server IP address ?

 

How do I change the settings to make it work ? Need some guide here. Thanks.

[olajideolaolorun]

Umm... you may have to reinstall it... OR check the file IPB keeps the settings in.

 

It should be the name of the domain you set it up as or your IP. Whatever people are going to be using is better.

[BananaAcid]

just an old post from me concerning dnydns and a domain...

 

Apache and Virtualhosts with DynDNS and free domains

[BananaAcid]

Careful:

 

DynDNS service disabled Wildcard for free accounts. (Virtual Hosts depend on this)

 

Use another service:

Dynamic DNS Provider List

 

Preferably DtDNS - they provide for free, unlike DynDNs, an Offline Page/redirect and Wildcard. All other options are pretty much the same (all ports forwarding, framed opening of target page, updater support)

[BobS]

Note that, as of January 2012, this list is rather dated. Several services have changed or folded. BTW, the list is in German (Google will translate).

 

Since 5-Nano, The Uniform Server has been supporting DtDNS for DDNS resolution.

 

Regards,

BobS

[GoodOlJoe]

it would be very nice of someone could update this post to reflect todays needs of uzoro.