[SLL] Web site semi-inaccessable

[Brian Hatch]

Just about 2007-11-11 15:51 -0800, Rich Wilson spoke:

> I and a number of others are having trouble accessing the site
> www.holdenvillage.org.

> >ping holdenvillage.org
> 
> Pinging holdenvillage.org [82.165.168.15] with 32 bytes of data:

In this case both www.holdenvillage.org and holdenvillage.com have
the same IP address.  But don't assume that's always the case.

> But sending a browser to http://82.165.168.15 yields

The Apache (1.3.33) machine hosting your website is using virtual hosts.
Thus when you go to it using the name, your browser says "Host:
www.holdenvillage.org", and apache knows which virtual host to show.
When you go via the IP, your browser says "Host: 82.165.168.15" and
is showing you the 403 error.

> Verizon claims this means this isn't their problem.

Well, the fact that I can get to it fine using the name means that
the webserver is configured acceptably and I can reach it.  The fact
that going to it via the IP address doesn't work is not Verizon's
fault.  You can hit the webserver, but you're asking the webserver
to provide a website (82.165.168.15) for which it is not configured.


> Is there any more public poking that can be done to find out where the
> problem is?

Don't use the IP address.  The apache process is not configured to
return a functional website for that virtual host, only for the
www.holdenvillage.org and holdenvillage.org virtual hosts.  (Now
there may be others too, but I'm not going to try guessing what
they are...)


So - what happens when you do it with the domain name, not the
IP?

Here are some other things to try:

# should show the 403 error
$ curl http://82.165.168.15

# Should show the web page HTML
$ curl http://www.holdenvillage.org

# Should also show the web page properly because we're manually
# saying to the webserver (apache) we want the www.holdenvillage.org
# virtul host.  Using the IP in the http:// request assures we
# don't try a different IP if DNS is not working.
$ curl -H "Host: www.holdenvillage.org" http://82.165.168.15

# should show 82.165.168.15.
$ host www.holdenvillage.org 


-- 
Brian Hatch                  He could lead if he would
   Systems and                get the lead out.
   Security Engineer
http://www.ifokr.org/bri/

Every message PGP signed
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
Url : http://lists2.linuxjournal.com/pipermail/linux-list/attachments/20071111/80cb3ff7/attachment.sig