Really weird problem accessing forum from outside the network [SOLVED]

[Windependence]

SMF Version: SMF 1.1.4
Hello,

I have a new installation of SMF running on a dual processor 2.8 GHz AMD Opteron machine. It's the only thing on the machine, and has 4 gigs of RAM. I had an old PHPBB board but hardware failed and we could not recover the data.

Anyway there is nothing on this board and it works great from inside my network, BUT when I try to access it from the outside it loads like molasses and parts of the GUI do not load. It seems like it's a DNS issue but I am not sure what to change since I have Apache variables, the hosts file on the server and also the DNS server settings for the resolv.conf in FreeBSD. I am not a noob at this and I am pulling my hair out. I have tried the internal address 192.168.2.40 for the board as that was what it set up with when I ran the installer. I have also tried the full URL, http://dominicanstotheusa.com [nofollow] as well as the external IP 71.39.77.108.  In the hosts file on the server I have also tried variations of this for the server alias. I have three external DNS servers from my ISP configured in the resolv.conf file and the rest of the network works fine on these.  I have port 80 forwarded back to the 192.168.2.40 address.

Obviously the server is reachable from the outside but there must be something that can't resolve since the page partially loads most of the time. It is live now so you can try it.

If anyone could point me in the general direction I would really be grateful. I have been down way too long with this.

-Tim

-Tim

[Windependence]

I should add one thing. I noticed this morning I can load up html just fine, very snappy but php won't load, ONLY from the outside. I know, very weird. Any ideas anyone?

-Tim

[Rumbaar]

I notice when I hit your domain it brings up the file access listings, you might want to look into that.

Anyways it has to do with the paths as it's trying to access internal subnet address via the external link
example:
http://192.168.2.40/forum/Themes/default/style.css?fin11
Is the link 'we' external people get when accessing your site, and of course we can't so the CSS fails to load.

You will most likely need to run the Repair Settings from the external domain, with the correct external details, and it should repair the links to the proper externally accessible links.  Now I'm unsure how that will affect any internal viewing/access.

[Windependence]

OK now we're getting somewhere. Thanks!

Here is the contents of /etc/hosts:

Code Select Expand

::1                     localhost
127.0.0.1               localhost  tiburon.dominicanstotheusa.com
71.39.77.108            dominicanstotheusa.com  www.dominicanstotheusa.com

And here is /etc/resolv.conf:

Code Select Expand

domain  dominicanstotheusa.com
nameserver      205.171.2.65
nameserver      205.171.3.65
nameserver      192.168.2.1


And from my httpd.conf:

Code Select Expand

ServerName 71.39.77.108


There was an entry in my /etc/hosts file for the 192.168.2.40 address but I have removed it. Still no joy. I am pulling my hair out beause the old domain on PHPBB and OpenBSD worked just fine.

The issue with the files shownig up in the root directory I am aware of. I will fix that one when I get the server accessible from the outside.

-Tim

[Rumbaar]

No I think you'll find the issues is with the configured paths that are present in various locations inside the SMF database, where the Repair Settings tool will help to configure them to the new external paths.

[Windependence]

Well I have run the tool once but I will do it again remotely to see if it changes anything and let you know. Thanks for all the help!

-Tim

[Windependence]

Does the tool write the new settings when you hit the save button? If so, I still have no joy. I am at work now but when I break for lunch I can check to see if it actually changed the settings.

-Tim

[Rumbaar]

For your current theme settings what is the various URL that are Theme URLs and Configuration section?  Also under Server Settings what are the URLS Forum URL, SMF Directory & Sources Directory?

When you ran the tool what did you put into the various Paths & URLs?

I've never run it myself, but my understanding is that it performs all the actions once you press save.

[Windependence]

Rumbar, you ROCK!

When I ran the tool it did NOT write the changes but I manually inserted the recommendations and now we are up and running.

Thank you very much! You are a life saver.

-Tim

[Rumbaar]

Sweet, glad you got it all worked out.  You might find you'll have CSS issues when/if you access via the internal IP address, but external user should be fine.

[Windependence]

Sweet, glad you got it all worked out.  You might find you'll have CSS issues when/if you access via the internal IP address, but external user should be fine.

Thanks. Just FYI for anyone new to SMF. I was expecting all these settings to be in one page like PHPBB. They aren't. You have to look for them and that's what threw me off.

Also, for local viewing on the network, just put an entry in your hosts file. Works for Unix, Mac, and Windows.

Again, thanks for the help.

-Tim