[Gllug] CNAME confusion

[will]

Ben Fitzgerald wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I need a little DNS help from the group. I know
> it's not linux specific, so sorry, but please
> help me out!
> 
> I have a domain that is owned at pipex, let's
> call it mydomain.com. I have some webspace
> at zen, it's to be found, for example, at
> www.zen12345.zen.co.uk. mydomain.com also
> has a CNAME record managed by pipex, www.mydomain.com.
> 
> I thought that if I updated my CNAME record
> through pipex that I could point www.mydomain.com
> to www.zen12345.zen.co.uk. and that when I then
> browsed to www.mydomain.com my browser would
> query dns, pick up the CNAME and then resolve
> it to the real ip and I'd see the same page
> I see when I browse directly to www.zen12345.zen.co.uk

I would guess that what is happening is that zen are running 
virtualhosts, more than one site on a single IP address.  The server 
running the websites (and the site at www.zen12345.zen.co.uk) relies on 
the browser sending the hostname of the site it is trying to get to as 
part of the request so the server software knows what site to serve.  I 
am not sure, but I would guess that your browser connects to the IP 
212.23.8.80 and then requests the hostname www.mydomain.com instead of 
www.zen12345.zen.co.uk.  As the server will not be set up to serve the 
host www.mydomain.com it doesn't work.

Someone correct me if any of that was inaccurate ;)

Will.
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