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dnswindows-server-2008-r2domainservicesnameservers

Point/Send domain name to website on Windows Server 2008 R2

Okay, can't seem to find a great article or info on this. My client purchased a domain for his company (domain.com) through Network Solutions. He has a local server running Windows 2008 R2 that he wants to host his company's website on. I've created the website and have it running with Apache on localhost. The server does have a static IP, but when I visit it, I'm prompted for credentials (user, password) which is expected as it's meant to be protected.

My question: How would I point the domain to the website on his server?

From what I've researched, I have options that include:

  1. Pointing the domain to the static IP (what about the credentials?)
  2. Creating A and CNAME records for the DNS server on Network Solutions
  3. Setting up a local DNS server w/ Active Directory on the Windows machine
  4. Creating a couple name servers that would tell Network Solutions where to send the domain

It's safe to say I'm effectively confused, so any help would be very much appreciated.

Solution

  • So basically you have to associate the domain name to the IP address, and that is done using DNS.

    I'd suggest option 2 where you let Network Solutions manage the DNS, and you create an A record for www.domainname.com that points to the IP address on your server. Keep in mind it might take 24-48 hours for this new record to propagate across the internet. Take a look at http://www.networksolutions.com/support/dns-manager-advanced-tools/ and http://www.networksolutions.com/support/a-records-ip-addresses/

    Regarding the credentials prompt, I assume you are using IIS and so you'd want to check the Authentication settings for the site. If you want anonymous access to the site, you would enable it there.