Can't access Moodle from inside school network

Can't access Moodle from inside school network

by T.C. Chappelear -
Number of replies: 3

I am running a server to host Moodle, which is a Learning Management System for online learners.  I am trying to develop an online community of practice for teachers in my county.

Anyway, my host computer is located inside the state's network and the ip was set up to be accessible outside the network.  That has been successful, the only problem is that the server is not accessible within the state's network.  I know it has to be some type of a configuration issue but I haven't figured it out yet.  Can anyone help me. 

The site is accessible at [url]http://chs2.mars.k12.wv.us[/url]

The problem is that when I access this site inside my network (like right now) i get a message

Sorry, we couldn't find http://chs2.mars.k12.wv.us/. Here are some related websites:

Does anyone have any ideas or has had experience with this.

I am running XAMMP for windows on XP

Thanks,

Tcchap

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In reply to T.C. Chappelear

Re: Can't access Moodle from inside school network

by Fred Quay -
Hi,

I'm not a network specialist at all, but awaiting better informed help :

From inside the network, you should adress the network name of you server and moodle location in the server : on your server, find its name, (right-clic on Work Station) then try http://MyServerName/MoodleAlias with MoodleAlias declared in you XAMMP configuration, or with Moodle Directory Name if your Moodle is under /www/

Hope it be of some use, and forgive my poor translation
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In reply to T.C. Chappelear

Re: Can't access Moodle from inside school network

by Ken Wilson -

Hi TC

There are several ways to do this - one way involves using HTTP environment data which is not recommended from a security viewpoint. The more rigorous method is to use DNS and try adding an Address (A) record in your internal DNS server. I'm guessing that you're on a Windows server, so:

  1. Login to your Domain Controller and open DNS Manager by clicking Start -> Administrative Tools -> DNS.
  2. Create a forward lookup zone for mars.k12.wv.us (if it does not already exist) by right-click Foward Lookup Zone and following the wizard.
  3. Create an A record by right-clicking the name of the Forward Lookup Zone (mars.k12.wv.us) -> New Host (A). Enter the name (chs2) and the *internal* IP address for the moodle server. Click Add Host.

Test by typing ping chs2.mars.k12.wv.us at the command prompt from the server. You should see responses coming from the IP address of your moodle server.

Repeat the test at a workstation (making sure they're configured to use the DC as their DNS server - type ipconfig /flushdns at the command prompt if you get problems). Finally, load moodle in your browser on the PC by entering the address.

There's a more detailed set of instructions at http://docs.moodle.org/en/masquerading.

Hope this helps!

Ken

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In reply to Ken Wilson

Re: Can't access Moodle from inside school network

by Dennis Flynn -
yes on the DNS answer.

On the public Internet, you need to resolve your moodle to your public IP address; on the private intranet, you need to resolve your moodle to your private IP address.

For example, assuming your public IP address is 204.116.116.116 and your private IP address is 192.168.0.10: your public DNS server should have an A record in the mine.net zone for mymoodle to IP address 204.116.116.116; your private DNS server should also be setup with a zone for mine.net and you should create an A record for mymoodle pointing to 192.168.0.10.

Oh yeah, if you need to setup a private DNS server to accomplish this, you must point your PCs to this server for their DNS resolution. This also means you must configure your DNS server with Forwarders to look at public DNS servers.
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