How do I set up my apache server with DynDNS?

I have been trying to set up my apache server for many days now, to no avail. I have acquired a DynDNS Pro account and have also registered a domain name with names.co.uk (I haven't even figured out what to do with that yet, and if I even need it at all).

I've configured my sites-enabled folder in the /etc/apache2 directory to point to the directory where I have my .html documents. It works fine when I have DynDNS set up to the local IP Address 192.168.x.x. But I know that this means that other people can't access my website. When I go to the DynDNS website and change the IP address to what is my public IP, if I try to access my website "shredalert.homelinux.com" it takes me to the login page for my router. I am completely boggled as to why this occurs. This is my first time trying to set up a web server and website. Please have some patience if I make really silly comments/assumptions.

I should add that I have already forwarded port 80 for 192.168.x.x. How would I fix my apache server to load my website, instead of loading my router login page when I change my IP to my public IP address on DynDNS?

P.S. Would very much appreciate if someone who uses "names.co.uk" could tell me how I could utilise the domain name I have registered.

1 Answer

A few notes :

• your domain's configured dns servers must point to dyndns
• your router must forward port 80 to your local machine. The ip address on your local machine should be static and ideally reserved on the router.
• your machine must have port 80 open
• if all this is setup correctly, if you do you should get your default apache page (same as )
• you must set a virtualhost for shredalert.homelinux.com to listen, or put that domain as alias of localhost with ServerAlias shredalert.homelinux.com directive on your main config file.

Create the virtualhost file /etc/apache2/sites-available/shredalert.homelinux.com.conf like :

<VirtualHost *:80> ServerName shredalert.homelinux.com DocumentRoot /path/to/root/directory ErrorLog "/var/log/apache2/error.shredalert.homelinux.com.log" CustomLog "/var/log/apache2/access.shredalert.homelinux.com.log" common <Directory /path/to/root/directory> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews AllowOverride All Order allow,deny allow from all Require all granted </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Then enable the site and restart (or reload) apache2 service

sudo a2ensite shredalert.homelinux.com.conf
sudo service apache2 restart

Note : you can change /path/to/root/directory to anything you want, so not necessarily you must expose your complete localhost root dir.