This is humbling. I just leased a Godaddy linux dedicated server with a Cisco PIX 501 firewall. Control panel is Plesk 8. Preconfigured with Ferdora 7, mysql, php,etc.

I've tried to configure multiple domains but am having problems.

I currently have several websites each running on their own Godaddy shared hosting account. I'm am trying to migrate all of these websites onto the dedicated server.


My plan is as follows:

1. Configure the firewall
2. Configure the server (add IPs)
3. Configure the domains from within Plesk (add client, domains, dns). But DO NOT change the name servers on the domain. I need to test the websites first.
4. Copy the webpages, content from the shared hosting accounts to the server.
5. Test the websites on the server. I am hoping that I can access the websites on the server using ip addresses, since I figure I won't be able to use the domain names without first changing the name server entries on the domains.
6. Once testing is completed, change the name servers on the domains so they point to the server.



Please assume the following:

Dedicated Server IP: 72.169.55.183
Firewall IP: 72.169.55.184
domain 1 = mydomain1.com
domain 2 = mydomain2.com
domain 3 = mydomain3.com


What I have done:

1. Configured the firewall interface (outside = 72.169.55.184/24, inside = 10.0.0.254/24)
2. Configured the firewall IP translation rules (outside = 72.169.55.183, inside = 10.0.0.1)
3. Configured server (added 3 IPs - 10.0.0.1 [exclusive], 10.0.0.2 [exclusive], 10.0.0.3 [exclusive]). I figure I need a unique ip for each domain?
4. Created a client called MyDomains. All domains are created under this client.
5. Created domain mydomain1 (assigned ip 10.0.0.1 [exclusive]). Added services ftp, ssi, php, cgi, etc. DNS 'A' records all set to firewall ip 72.169.55.184
6. Created domain mydomain2 (assigned ip 10.0.0.2 [exclusive]). Added services ftp, ssi, php, cgi, etc. DNS 'A' records all set to firewall ip 72.169.55.184
7. Created domain mydomain3 (assigned ip 10.0.0.3 [exclusive]). Added services ftp, ssi, php, cgi, etc. DNS 'A' records all set to firewall ip 72.169.55.184



I might be close, or I might be so far off that my inexperience shows.

Is the above correct? Do I need a unique "inside" ip address (10.0.0.1, 10.0.0.2, 10.0.0.3) for each domain/website? Do I need to add translation rules to the firewall for 10.0.0.2, 10.0.0.3?

How do I test each domain on the server without changing the name server entries on the domain? I have one firewall ip address 72.169.55.184 but 3 different domains. How can I test mydomain1.com, mydomain2.com, mydomain3.com?

If anyone can tell me if I have this correct, or what I have to do to get this correct I'd be immensly appreciative. Just as important is knowing how I can test each domain before I go live with it.

Thank you in advance for your comments/suggestions.


John

Using Apache the first virtual server is usually the default. If your first server in the httpd.conf is mydomain1.com then requesting the IP alone may display that domain. Your control panel may have a default page that is displayed but you could comment it out in the httpd.conf temporarily as you run through each site. Alternatively, you could edit the httpd.conf and add an alias to the virtual server of ww1.mydomain1.com. You would need to add a ww1 entry to the zone and it should display the contents of mydomain.com when ww1 is requested.

Behind a firewall, the httpd.conf usually use the private IP, assuming you have DNS Server running too, make sure they're set to use the public IP and from your home computer, you can just change the primary nameserver on your LAN to the public IP of the DNS Server.