How to add a virtual domain name for vm bridged installation

I installed the Virtual Machine Image 1.0.0-VM-3 / 2009-01-15 and was really pleased with the smooth procedure.

By default, the VM is configured by NAT and I can access the Wiki by http://foswiki.local/. However, I would like to access the wiki not only locally, but within my LAN, so I switched the VM to bridged. Then, I can access the Wiki by the IP address, http://192.168.1.153/ but not anymore by the domain name http://foswiki.local/.

I tried to generate a new foswiki.local conf file for apache here: http://foswiki.org/Support/ApacheConfigGenerator . I added a virtual hostname mywiki.local and copied the generated conf file to the /etc/apache2/site-available and created a sym link in /etc/apache2/site-enables. Then I restarted the apache server, but it did not solve the problem. I can still access the wiki by the IP address only, but not by the chosen hostname mywiki.local. (I did the same with a static on not dhcp generated IP address, but without success.)

Can somebody guide me how to configure the VM installation in bridged mode such that it can be accessed by a virtual hostname?

I know that it sould be somewhat possible, because Sven Dowideit TWiki on JeOs seems to do that, but I could not figure out how.

Any help would be appreciated.

To allow another PCs in the LAN to access VMWare virtual machine bridged interface using another name it must be registered in the DNS of the network. Ask to your network administrator to register 192.168.1.153 with the name of foswiki so other machines will be able to access foswiki at http://foswiki.the.rest.of.your.network.domain.name.

Using another approach you don't need to change to bridged to use your Foswiki installation from the local network. Conversely it is better to stay at NAT mode because you may have problem with bridge mode when accessing the wiki from another network segment.

In VMWare software the virtual network options must be set to redirect incoming traffic to port 80 into the apache running inside the VMWare virtual machine. So request from the network will be made to the real IP, and the VMWare software will redirect that request to the apache. In VMWare 5.5 it is done in Edit, Virtual Network Settings, NAT, button Edit, button Port Forwarding. Once things are working this way the access foswiki will be done using http://yourpcname.the.rest.of.your.network.domain.name. It you want another name (e.g. http://foswiki.the.rest.of.your.network.domain.name.) then an alias must be registered in the DNS to redirect foswiki.the.rest.of.your.network.domain.name. to yourpcname.the.rest.of.your.network.domain.name.

-- EnriqueCadalso - 23 Mar 2009

Thanks for the quick answer.

Probably I misunderstood something. I tried to assign a virtual domain name with the bridged interface instead of registering it in a DNS. Just for testing purposes. But maybe this is not possible. I have to do some more research on that. (As mentioned, Sven Dowideit's TWiki on JeOs does exactly that, but I still don't know how.)

I will try the NAT solution, which seems to be the better approach. (The conifguration can be done for VMware Player with vmnetcfg.exe, as I figured out right now.)

-- StefanGaechter - 23 Mar 2009

The virtual domain is also necessary to make your apache server to serve the proper site (there may be many on the same server). This site will be served only after it have being required by another PC. This other PC in your LAN needs someone to know on what IP is foswiki.the.rest.of.your.network.domain.name and that is the DNS server. DNS is to reach the server and virtual domain is to, once in the server, reach the proper site.

-- EnriqueCadalso - 23 Mar 2009

Thanks for the additional information. I begin to understand the details.

I tried the NAT approach and it works smoothly as suggested. Meanwhile, I also found a nice description of the different networking modes of VMware Player:

http://vmfaq.com/entry/34/

-- StefanGaechter - 24 Mar 2009

As a follow-up:

Installed VMWare Server. This allows FOSWiki to run as service under Windows, even when logged-off.
Create and started the FOSWiki VM, logged-in, and checked the assigned IP address with command ifconfig, in my case 192.168.161.128
Conifgured the virtual network for port forwarding under NAT as discribed above (Host -> Virtual Network Settings -> NAT -> Edit -> Port Forwarding). VMNet8, Host Port 80, VM IP Address 192.168.161.128: 80
Checked if FOSWiki can be accessed by http://yourpcname.the.rest.of.your.network.domain.name/
Stoped the FOSWiki VM and configured VM permissions necessary to run as a service (VM -> Settings -> Options -> Startup/Shutdown -> Local system account)
Start again FOSWiki VM
Closing VMWare Server puts FOSWiki VM in the background as a server

-- StefanGaechter - 26 Mar 2009