Web access help

[macboney]

Greetings all. This is my first post, and I have no experience outside of using Windows and Windows related programs. I am attempting to set up a family site that is easy for those even more "technologically challenged" than I am. read the section on hosting web apps and am getting nowhere. I have I have a domain name, I pointed it to Amahi. It gets into my network, but goes to the log in for a NetGear Stora that is tied in to my router, a Netgear 3500L. I have been using the Stora for just what it is, a storage place. I still want to use it for scheduled backups etc of Windows machines. Now, how do I point the domain name to my Amahi Dashboard? I will create user accounts for the Apps that I want family members, 5 kids, 12 grandchildren plus my wife and I to be able to access. Do I need to hook the stora directly to the Amahi machine (hope not) or what? I want them to be able to sign in with a user name and password just like any other website to use things primarily in Family Connections. I will add on as I go and as I learn more. Right now, Amahi resides on an older laptop sitting in the living room. I have a Dell Dimension 3100 that I was going to use, but I am having a booting problem with it right now. Amahi is installed on it, but it will not reboot without screen and keyboard. Something in BIOS is not configured correctly, because I had it working once, but had to reinstall Amahi and now it won't. I know this is two totally seperat things, but I need help with them both. Thanks for any help any of you might have. This has been a learning experience that I hope will continue to be that plus enjoyable and easy to use.

[bigfoot65]

Did you forward port 80 TCP to your HDA IP Address in your router? Keep in mind that this is a lot of advanced things you are wanting to do for someone who has no Linux experience. I would suggest you take one thing at a time and lets get that resolved first.

It might be better if you VPN into your HDA and do all the Dashboard stuff you want to do. That is an easier approach for a newbie. Just install the appropriate VPN client based on your OS and log in. Then you can access the HDA away from home just as if you were sitting in front of it.

Also, what kind of issues are you having with install on the other machine. Details are important or it is difficult to help you out.

Recommend you make separate posts as it will be less confusing.

[macboney]

OK on the single topics. I have tried the VPN using the suggested port, I belive it was 1124(?). No luck there. Getting my domain to get to the Stora was easy, but I am afraid to go further without some advice. I would rather go slow than mess it all up and start over. I will post the other install in another post. I installed HDA connect, and so far no luck. I think I remember that I can not use this while within my own network and have not had a chance to try outside of it yet. I will tomorrow afternoon just to try it out. I am trying to make it simpler for other family members accessing things without having to install a VPN client on their computers. Some are several hundred miles away and not real good at installing and configuring their computers. I think they are afraid of them because they don't really understand them. I will jump in and try and at worst, I 'll reinstall and start over if I have to. Thanks.

[bigfoot65]

The port is 1194 UDP. Ensure you have it set that way or it won't work. If you are only concerned about providing access to file, you can use a clientless VPN such as OpenVPN ALS (http://www.amahi.org/apps/openvpn-als). It works well and you can control what directories/files are seen by users. Its a very nice VPN solution.

Of course if you cannot get past your router, then you are stuck. It is possible that the Stora is causing the problems. If it is the only device seen by your router from the outside, then you will have issues. As long as you can port forward and get through, then you should be ok.

[macboney]

I checked the port forwarding for VPN and it was correct, and I was able to get to Amahi dashboard that way. I tried forwarding port 80 to the hda IP and was told it was being used for other things. I will do some more reading on the wiki and try again. Thanks.

[macboney]

I am trying to cover all possibilities that can affect web access using my domain name. My router is a Netgear 3500L, and has the following on its setup:

Domain Name Server (DNS) Address
Get Automatically from ISP
Use These DNS Servers
Primary DNS ...
Secondary DNS ...

Should this be left to get automatically from ISP like the dynamic IP or should I tell it to use my hda and give the router that IP address? In reading the Wiki on hosting a website and some forum topics similar, it seems that I should tell the router to use the hda for DNS, but it isn't entirely clear to me. Thanks for any input.

[bigfoot65]

Yes, if you must set DNS for your router then point it to the HDA. My router does not require that I point it to a DNS, so it gets it from the HDA by default.