My HDA domain goes to the actual domain outside my network

[diggityDawg]

No, I didn't install squid proxy. I actually haven't installed very much, and like I said, the domain thing has never worked since day one. After everything I've gone through the last couple months to get this thing working, there's no way I'm re-installing it all now. I guess I have to try and track down where it fails, but I don't completely understand how to diagnose the DNS service in Amahi. Isn't that where it would be failing? Or should I look somewhere else? Is it the DNS that should be redirecting all requests to the domain I specified to an internal IP?

[bigfoot65]

Well, since it has never worked that leads me to believe the install was not clean. Not your fault, but I have seen installs in the past where most things work but there is something that does not.

In those cases, a reinstall is the only option. I understand your desire to not reinstall, but you may find the amount of time and research to find the problem may outweigh the cost of a reinstall. You may never find the issue.

When you did your initial install, did you follow the guidance on http://docs.amahi.org? Reason I am asking is if you did not then that might explain things. We have found deviating from the guidance rarely provides a successful install.

I am happy to help, but not sure what to look for next.

[diggityDawg]

Yes, I did follow those instructions, since I had no prior experience with Ubuntu, and it had been many years since I worked with Linux, I needed the instructions to ensure I did everything correctly. I understand what you are saying about the cost of not reinstalling being higher than doing the reinstall, but there's just no way I will remember all of the things I did to get this machine where it is now - all of the articles I read and followed carefully, entering in all of the commands to get the server apps running... If I do a reinstall, I will have to re-do all of that, right? It's the equivalent of re-installing my operating system, correct? And all so that I can use the DNS services of Amahi to run server apps on my network? Everything else seems to work fine, so I'm not sure it's worth the pain. I've got a family, and they are tired of me disappearing into my office for hours every night to try and get the home server to work. Now I've got to start over from scratch? You can see how that is not a viable option for me. If I had to do that, I would rather just try another option like MediaVault or FreeNAS...

So I will ask once again, just to be sure, where does that feature that redirects my home domain to my internal IP get set? In Windows I would just add it to the hosts file, but I don't know what the equivalent is in Ubuntu, or with Amahi. Could you just tell me that much? Then I will try to fix it and see if I can get anywhere before I go with the nuclear option...

Thanks

[bigfoot65]

I understand your concerns. Not sure I can explain what you ask. The OS is what determines how the domain redirects within the network. This is done with the DNS and DHCP servers in the HDA.

If you have turned off DHCP and DNS on your router, the HDA would be doing all the work. As for where all the pieces are in the OS, that I cannot honestly describe. There are some settings in config files located in various locations and some in the database as well.

I hope you understand that I did not intend to persuade you to take the easy way out. My concern is if it never worked from initial install, there may be more wrong that may be impossible to find. It could be like looking for a needle in the hay stack.

When you did your initial install, there should have been very little if anything needed to make it all work. If you have been making configuration changes to things based on internet guidance outside Amahi, that can also cause problems.

I will be happy to continue to try and help, but not sure what else to suggest.

[bigfoot65]

Not sure if this would help, but thought I would pass it along.

http://docs.amahi.org/troubleshooting.html

[diggityDawg]

No, I know you're only trying to help, and I appreciate it. I've been building and using computers for over 30 years, so I may not be the right audience for Amahi. I cannot conceive of a computer in my home that I cannot install additional software on to accomplish what I want. If the expectation of Amahi is that users should not make any changes to their system, or add any additional software because that could break the system, then I think I might have chosen the wrong OS for my move away from WHS...

I will continue working on this and see if I can get the domain issue resolved. There are only so many ways a DNS can set the IP of a domain, right? I just need to learn about the DNS server that runs on Amahi, or in Ubuntu.

[bigfoot65]

The intent is for you to be able to install anything you want. However, sometimes when other apps are installed or configurations changed it breaks Amahi functionality. Unfortunately there are limitations as with any OS.

From my experience, most things work fairly well along side Amahi. If there is anything that you recall changing or adding, please let me know. I can then take a look and see if I can help diagnose.

Appreciate your patience. I hope you find the solution.

[diggityDawg]

Sure, I installed SABnzbd, Sickbeard, Couch Potato, headphones, transmission (although I don't use this now) - I think I remember using this article as my guide for installing those. I've also installed several things through the Ubuntu Software Center (or whatever it's called) UI - GParted, System Monitor, Disk Manager, Chrome, Firefox (may have been installed already?) I think a few others, but I can't remember. I can check tonight when I get home, but they were all pretty small utilities for doing daily work... I think that's it. Can't think of any other things, but if I do think of any I'll add them here.

Thanks!

[bigfoot65]

I checked out the article and don't see anything that would cause issues. Not sure why you did a manual install of SABnzbd, Sickbeard, Couch Potato, and transmission when there is an Amahi one-click version already.

Most things installed via the software center should have been ok, providing they were installed after Amahi. BTW, there are tutorials in the Amahi wiki for installing/configuring these apps (even headphones).

Most are contributed by users, but should work no problem. Just a FYI

[diggityDawg]

I finally gave up on this and just decided that if I wasn't going to use the home domain features of Amahi I should disable the DNS and re-enable it on my router. So I did, and then the apps loaded correctly. Weird! All of the apps I installed load now (except Subsonic, but I'll put that in another new thread), but I ended up going back to enabling DNS on the Amahi, since it seemed to re-enable it every time it boots up regardless of whether I checked that box or not, and disabled the DNS on my router. The only issue I have now is I can no longer browse to my router's config settings. The router is working, and I can even get to the drive that is attached to the router, but when I try to load the admin page it times out... Just another strange Amahi thing...??

Anyways, wanted to let you know I was able to get this working without reinstalling the entire OS.