dyn dns & web server problem

hello,

i have a domain set up at dyndns.org for my PPPoE dsl connection.
this works fine & allows me to ssh to the box easily when i'm
travelling.

today, i notice the following behavior. if i access a web server on
that box with the external name, it works fine as long as i specify a
page name.

if i specify a directory without a name, however, the domain name
changes to the local machine name (in the browser address bar). i
don't like this one bit. although i can't think of a direct way
anyone could use the internal name of a machine to do something nasty,
i'm not a hacker. just as importantly, this action renders the
internal links unusable. while i could certainly change all the hrefs
to point back at the external name, that is not my preferred solution.

so, it looks like this.

http://www.my_dns_name.com/dir/filename.html # works
http://www.my_dns_name.com/dir/ "redirects" ->
http://my.internal_machine_name.com/dir

if "dir" has an index/home file in it, that will be displayed.

i have no idea what is causing it. is there something in my apache
config that needs to be set (it's just the default 1.3.27 config, as
far as i can recall, with the exception that i've configured cgi) or
is this an artefact of the NAT configuration on the box (done with
iptables)?

yes, i know that i shouldn't be running a web server on my firewall.
it's my only realistic option, right now.

if anyone could suggest how i can stop this particular behavior from
occurring, i would much appreciate it. i have some stuff i want to
put up.

thanks.

mp

--
cat: /home/powem/.signature: No such file or directory

On 2 Nov 2003 17:09:00 GMT, Michael Powe <michael+(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> i have a domain set up at dyndns.org for my PPPoE dsl connection.
> this works fine & allows me to ssh to the box easily when i'm
> travelling.
>
> today, i notice the following behavior. if i access a web server on
> that box with the external name, it works fine as long as i specify a
> page name.
>
> if i specify a directory without a name, however, the domain name
> changes to the local machine name (in the browser address bar). i
> don't like this one bit. although i can't think of a direct way
> anyone could use the internal name of a machine to do something nasty,
> i'm not a hacker. just as importantly, this action renders the
> internal links unusable. while i could certainly change all the hrefs
> to point back at the external name, that is not my preferred solution.

A URL that ends with a dir, requires a trailing slash.
See Apache docs for UseCanonicalName.

But setting that Off just compensates for your errors, so you should fix
ANY URL that ends with a directory to include a trailing slash.

--
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>>>>> "David" == David Efflandt <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

David> On 2 Nov 2003 17:09:00 GMT, Michael Powe
David> <michael+(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>> if i specify a directory without a name, however, the domain
>> name changes to the local machine name (in the browser address
>> bar). i don't like this one bit. although i can't think of a
>> direct way anyone could use the internal name of a machine to
>> do something nasty, i'm not a hacker. just as importantly, this
>> action renders the internal links unusable. while i could
>> certainly change all the hrefs to point back at the external
>> name, that is not my preferred solution.

David> A URL that ends with a dir, requires a trailing slash. See
David> Apache docs for UseCanonicalName.

David> But setting that Off just compensates for your errors, so
David> you should fix ANY URL that ends with a directory to
David> include a trailing slash.

well, thanks. i'll look at that at once. however, it's not "my
error." it's SOP for people to go to a web site and type in a
directory name w/o a backslash. i don't type
http://ctc.homelinux.net/, i type http://ctc.homelinux.net. and so
forth. even if i were to tell someone to use a backslash, the
likelihood is, they wouldn't.

thanks again.

mp

--
cat: /home/powem/.signature: No such file or directory