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Domain name works from outside my LAN but not inside RRS feed

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    For a long while, I was convinced that the domain name provided by Windows Live Custom Domains was not working because every time I try to reach the website inside the LAN using the domain name that I set up in Console->Settings, I get a "Cannot Display the Webpage" error.  But, I finally tried reaching the Home Server web page from outside my home LAN using the provided domain name and found that I could get it.  It is possible to reach the Home Server website inside the LAN using the Home Server's hostname as the website address.

    My LAN was run first using Home XP and Internet Connection Sharing as a router and now I use a Linux router called Smoothwall Express.  Smoothwall Express has an option to make it available as a UPnP device, and it checks out under the router configuration settings and verfication, except it can't verify that the router accepts website connections or remote connections.

    Why can't I reach my Home Server inside my LAN using the provided domain name?  Is anyone having similar problems with other routers? 
    Friday, November 7, 2008 5:25 PM

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    This is a problem with your router. Many consumer routers are unable to correctly "loop back" properly from within the local network when a DNS lookup resolves to the router's external (i.e. ISP provided) IP address.

    Since you're using SmoothWall, I would recommend you consult the documentation and see if/how you can configure your router to deal with this.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    • Proposed as answer by Ken WarrenModerator Friday, November 7, 2008 6:38 PM
    • Marked as answer by Ken WarrenModerator Thursday, November 13, 2008 12:01 AM
    • Unmarked as answer by pksky Thursday, November 13, 2008 10:04 PM
    • Marked as answer by pksky Thursday, November 13, 2008 10:04 PM
    Friday, November 7, 2008 6:38 PM
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    This is a problem with your router. Many consumer routers are unable to correctly "loop back" properly from within the local network when a DNS lookup resolves to the router's external (i.e. ISP provided) IP address.

    Since you're using SmoothWall, I would recommend you consult the documentation and see if/how you can configure your router to deal with this.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    • Proposed as answer by Ken WarrenModerator Friday, November 7, 2008 6:38 PM
    • Marked as answer by Ken WarrenModerator Thursday, November 13, 2008 12:01 AM
    • Unmarked as answer by pksky Thursday, November 13, 2008 10:04 PM
    • Marked as answer by pksky Thursday, November 13, 2008 10:04 PM
    Friday, November 7, 2008 6:38 PM
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    I confirm that the router was the problem.  The Smoothwall router required an update before it would provide whatever service was needed to allow me to access my WHS using the provided name.  I might add that you should not navigate away from the update page in Smoothwall while the update is occuring else the download and update cease. 

    I still would like to know what was missing that I needed to have to make it work.  Otherwise, the problem is solved.
    Wednesday, November 12, 2008 11:26 PM
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    ptsky, you're running Smoothwall Express 3.0, yes?
    That was a by-design 'issue' with SWE3, and was 'corrected' with Update 1 (or, was it Update 2?  It's been a while since it's been a problem for me.  Also, we're up to Update 3 now.) 
    The logic that the SWE team had was to prevent spoofing and DoS attacks that originated from within the LAN.  But, it so annoyed the user base (myself included) that that feature was eliminated.
    At the time (until it was 'officially' fixed), one member of the dev team wrote an unofficial patch to rewrite the part of the firewall script (rc.firewall.up) that was blocking loopback connections.

    HTH,
    -Chris
    Thursday, November 13, 2008 4:38 AM
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    Thanks for that bit of news.  I hope that means that the folks at Smoothwall are paying attention to MS users.
    Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:32 PM