Thanks to all those that have helped with this issue.
I contacted our Networking department to make sure that both ports 80 and
443 were open inbound to the server and that they were open from both VCU
and external networks (outside VCU). The issue was on their end and it
has been resolved!
I am also able to connect to my application using the virtual host
www.fmdreports.vcu.edu/InfoViewApp (which automatically loads the
logon.jsp page).
However, what I would really like to have happen is to only have to type
in www.fmdreports.vcu.edu or fmdreports.vcu.edu and not have to type the
/InfoViewApp after it and have set it to load the login page which is
www.fmdreports.vcu.edu/InfoViewApp/logon.jsp
Here is a copy of what I have in the host element......how can I
accomplish the above?
<Host name="fmdreports.vcu.edu" appBase="webappps/InfoViewApp"
unpackWARs="false" autoDeploy="true" xmlValidation="false"
xmlNamespaceAware="false">
<Alias>www.fmdreports.vcu.edu</Alias>
</Host>
_____________________________________________
"Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are, for
what you could become".
Lisa D. Beggs
Information Technology Specialist
Business Application Services
Phone: 804 828-2098
Fax: 804 828-0322
Don't be a phishing victim - VCU and other reputable organizations will
never use email to request that you reply with your password, social
security number or confidential personal information. For more details
visit http://infosecurity.vcu.edu/phishing.html
From:
Mark Eggers <[email protected]>
To:
Tomcat Users List <[email protected]>
Date:
07/27/2009 10:55 PM
Subject:
Re: Trouble setting up virtual host
As usual, late to the thread.
I'll use C) then:
> > C) on another workstation :
> >
> > - close the browser and re-open it.
> > - in the browser, find the place where you can "clear the cache".
> > - do it (clear the cache)
> > - request the URL :
> >
> http://adm138/InfoViewApp
> >
> > - indicate the result here :
> >
> >
> > A: Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage
This usually means that the other workstation cannot translate between the
name you gave the host on the other workstation (adm138) and the IP
address of your server.
I also noticed that while you use the fully qualified name in the other
example (www.fmdreports.vcu.edu) you use the short name in your tests
(adm138).
There are several things to try here, to see where the breakdown is. I'll
use numbers since everyone else is using letters.
1. From another workstation, open a DOS window (if it's Windows) or a UNIX
shell command (if it's UNIX), and type the following:
ping adm138
1a) If you get:
Ping could not find the host adm138, then the other workstation does not
know how to translate between the name and the IP address.
1b) If you get:
Four lines with a bunch of numbers, then the other workstation knows how
to translate between the name and the IP address
2. From another workstation, open a DOS window (if it's Windows) or a UNIX
shell command (if it's UNIX) and type the following:
ping adm138.fmdreports.vcu.edu
2a) If you get:
Ping could not find the host adm138.fmdreports.vcu.edu, then the other
workstation does not know how to translate between the name and the IP
address.
2b) If you get:
Four lines with a bunch of numbers, then the other workstation knows how
to translate between the name and the IP address
adm138.fmdreports.vcu.edu may be the fully qualified name, but this
depends on how your network administrator has set up something called DNS.
Firewall check
==============
Windows comes with a built-in firewall. On XP/Professional it's located
in Start->Control Panel->Network Connections. You'll have to single-click
on the active network (the one your server connects to) to see Change
Firewall Settings on the left hand side.
Once you click on that (Change Firewall Settings), you should be able to
edit the settings by selecting Exceptions tab. Hopefully you'll see two
entries for Java(TM) Platform SE Binary. Make sure that the JRE you're
using to run Tomcat is there (by clicking on edit and reading the
properties).
Short term fix (once you've checked your firewall)
==================================================
If you have administrative privileges on the other workstation (Windows)
or root access (UNIX), you can add some information in a file called
hosts. On Windows, it's located in the %windir%\System 32\drivers\etc
directory. In UNIX it's located in /etc
The line you need to add is the following:
aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd adm138
where aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd is the IP address of the machine with your Tomcat
server.
If the fully qualified name is supposed to be adm138.fmdreports.vcu.edu,
then add this line instead to the hosts file
aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd adm138 adm138.fmdreports.vcu.edu
where aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd is the IP address of the machine with your Tomcat
server.
Long term (proper) fixes
=========================
There are really two parts to this fix. The first part is to get your
network administrator to add this hostname and IP address to your campus
DNS server. The DNS server is responsible for translating between
human-readable names and IP addresses. Once the name you have chosen for
your server is in DNS, all machines using DNS servers will know how to
interpret the name of the host.
The second part of the fix is to alter your virtual host definition in
server.xml. In general, it's a good idea to only use fully qualified
names in the server.xml file.
So, in part, your host element should look like this:
<Host name="fully-qualified-host-name" . . . . >
</Host>
For example:
<Host name="adm138.fmdreports.vcu.edu" . . . >
</Host>
However, if you want to have this virtual host respond to other names, you
can add aliases for each name. To do that, just add an alias element for
each name you want.
<Host name="fully-qualified-host-name" . . . .>
<Alias>some-other-name</Alias>
<Alias>still-another-name</Alias>
</Host>
For example:
<Host name="production.fmdreports.vcu.edu" . . . >
<Alias>adm138.fmdreports.vcu.edu</Alias>
<Alias>another.fmdreports.vcu.edu</Alias>
</Host>
If you want those aliases to be visible to other select workstations, then
you will have to edit the hosts file for each workstation like I've shown
above. Obviously, this is not a permanent fix if you have to edit 1000s
of hosts on campus.
If you want to have those alias names reachable from workstations that are
not your server, then tell your network administrator what those names
should be. Please remember if these names are going to be globally
visible, you will have to use fully qualified names, not something like
adm138.
Host Name Resolution Background
===============================
Finally, there's a bit of magic happening on your workstation depending on
how it's configured. As I've said above, all host names should be fully
qualified. If that's the case, then how does mapping adm138 to an IP
address work?
The code that maps a name to an IP address queries its own host name, the
hosts file, and configured network servers. This is configurable with
UNIX, but not (if I remember correctly) under Windows.
When asking a server, the code that requests the information can add a
domain name suffix (in your case it might be fmdreports.vcu.edu or
vcu.edu). That means for the first request to any network server, your
workstation will tack on that information to the end of the name you give
it.
In other words adm138 becomes adm138.fmdreports.vcu.edu before it gets
sent to the server as a question. There are rules about truncating the
suffix (fmdreports.vcu.edu, then vcu.edu).
So depending on your workstation's configuration, the search code would do
this on getting adm138:
1. Is it my hostname?
Yes - great, we're done
2. Is it in my hosts file
Yes - great, we're done
3. Add my Primary (or default) domain (may be fmdreports.vcu.edu)
4. Ask the server for adm138.fmdreports.vcu.edu
Yes - great, we're done
5. Ask the server for adm138.vcu.edu
Yes - great, we're done
If all responses were "not found" (NXDOMAIN), then you get a page not
found error in IE.
Summary
=======
1. Put fully qualified host names the <Host></Host> element in server.xml.
2. Put in any aliases (qualified or not) in the <Alias></Alias> element
of server.xml
3. Get your network administrator to add all fully qualified names to DNS
4. Put all unqualified names in hosts files of hosts that you want to
connect to your server
5. Remember that the use of hosts files is purely for testing. DNS
should be used for all production work
Hopefully that will get you up and running. If not, then your network
administrator has blocked access to port 80 from other parts of the
network. This is reasonable for example, to prevent students from running
their own web servers. You'll have to ask your network administrator to
grant access to port 80 (as a server) for your particular IP address.
I apologize for the length. Hopefully that will complete your
connectivity and get you up and running.
Mark
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