Since it is possible to link different domain names to the same webserver, is it possible to detect which address [can be the ip address] a client entered to access a website, so it is possible to implement conditions depending on this value?
I'm maybe totally wrong about the multiple domain names. I don't know a lot about dns and domains.
You can see it in the HTTP Host: header. For example, if you're running a PHP script, you can see it in $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].
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I'm trying to figure out whether a website I use was hacked.
When I access the site via www.site-name.com, I'm taken to the website.
However, when I access the site without the "www," i.e. site-name.com, I'm taken to a different website.
Why is this happening? I did a little research and my only guess is that someone changed the site's .htaccess file, but that seems unlikely, as the different website has no relation to the official site.
Can someone help me understand what's going on here?
One IP address can host multiple websites with different hostnames using Virtual Name Hosting.
The HTTP server will look at the Host header in the request to determine what site to use for a given request.
This lets you have one IP address serving example.com and example.net.
Typically, the first Virtual Name Host will be the default, so if you were to ask for example.org the server would not recognise it and give you example.com instead.
In this case, it appears that the server has a Virtual Name Host configured for www.site-name.com but not for site-name.com so requests for site-name.com get the default site for the server.
Lets say I use DNS to configure ftp.mysite.com to my site's IP, I want to give clients the credentials to use the ftp site. Can I give them the URL (ftp.mysite.com) OR should I give then the IP directly (even though the URL points to that IP).
Am I risking compatibility issues of some sort?
Do not use an IP address, always use a domain name. A domain name is less likely to change and carries more information than an IP address.
While a domain name is indeed just an alias to an IP address, a single IP address can be used for multiple domains. This is common with virtual hostings.
In this case, an IP address may not carry enough information. This more common with HTTP, where a domain name, that is otherwise lost in domain-to-IP resolution, is provided to an HTTP server using Host: HTTP header.
FTP protocol has a similar mechanics, the HOST command. But as that command was introduced relatively recently, it is actually quite rare that an FTP server relies on this. Even on shared hostings, a domain is usually included in an FTP username to allow even FTP clients, that do not (yet) support the HOST command.
See also Do the SSH or FTP protocols tell the server to which domain I am trying to connect?
there is no deference. you can give either you IP or your domain name. once people have the domain, they can get your IP very easy.
the domain can be better choice in case the IP is going to be changed.
Most FTP servers are hosted on port 21 (or 22 for SFTP).
ftp.mysite.com usually points to localhost:21 or localhost:22
So there is no difference, except for the ports.
Given the following URL: htttp://domain/index.php, where index.php is the main webpage in a joomla server. I want to get the URL with the IP format, http://IP/index.php. I've tried that with several Joomla servers without success. What is it happening?
I will try to keep this answer simple, yet understandable.
The relation between Internet domains and IP address is not necessarily one-to-one.
In shared hosting, a single IP address may be used by several domains (or hostnames).
A Host header, which is a part of the HTTP standard, is sent with the HTTP request. This allows the server to determine which site to serve.
When you are trying to access a domain for which you don't know the IP, DNS lookup is performed, which provides the requested IP address.
A HTTP request is then sent to that IP with a Host header with the hostname (which contains the domain name).
If you are trying to access the ip directly, for example by typing in a web browser's address bar, the value of the Host header will be the IP itself and the server will have no indication what domain you actually want.
It is possible to set up a default behavior for cases where the IP address is directly accessed, but it is highly likely that a shared host will not allow you to set it yourself.
If we have something like this url:
https://www.example.com/Some/Page/index.html?id=15
I know that example.com will be sent as plain text, but /Some/Page/index.html?id=15 is sending securely.
Now, my question is, if we have something like this:
https://somesubdomain.example.com/Some/Page/index.html?id=15
May attackers know that I'm visiting somesubdomain.example.com? or they just can know I'm visiting example.com?
In other words, is subdomain part of url sending securely?
If the client is using Server Name Indication (most modern web browsers/platforms do), the host name (not the rest of the URL) will be visible in clear in the handshake in the server name indication extension, so both www.example.com and somesubdomain.example.com will be visible.
If the client isn't using SNI, an eavesdropper would still see the server certificates and the target IP address(es). Some certificates can be valid for multiple host names, so there may be some ambiguity, but this should give a fairly strong clue to the eavesdropper.
In addition, the same eavesdropper might be in a position to see the DNS requests (unless you've configured the hosts explicitly in your hosts file perhaps).
In general, you shouldn't assume that the host name you're trying to contact is going to be hidden. Whether it's a subdomain isn't relevant, it's the full host name as it's requested by the client that matters.
When using https all traffic between http client and server is encrypted. That does not mean it is safe, but it is encrypted according to what you refer here. Something a network sniffer can see is the ip address you communicate with. That is regardless of what network name had been resolved to that address.
Simply try yourself and use a network sniffer. I recommend wireshark.
We design and host websites for our clients/sales force. We have our own domain: http://www.firstheartland.com
Our agents fill out a series of forms on our website that are loaded into a database. The database then renders the website as a database driven website.
/repwebsites/repSite.cfm?link=&rep=rick.higgins
/repwebsites/repSite.cfm?link=&rep=troy.thompson
/repwebsites/repSite.cfm?link=&rep=david.kover
The database application reads which "rep" the site is for and the appropriate page to display from the query string. The page then outputs the content and the appropriate CSS to style the page and give it its own individual branding.
We have told the user to use Domain Name Forwarding to get the users to their spot on our server. However, everyone seems to be getting indexed under our domain instead of their own. We could in theory assign an new IP to them, the cost is not the issue.
The issue is how we would possibly accomplish this.
With all of that said, them being indexed under our domain would still be OK as long as they would actually show up high in the ranking for their search term.
For instance, an agent owns TroyLThompson.com. If I search Troy L Thompson, It does not show up in my search. Only, "troy thompson first heartland" works (they show up third)
Apart from scrapping the whole system, I don't know what to do. I'm very open to ideas.
I'm sure you can get this to work as most hosting companies will host hundreds of websites on a single server (i.e. multiple domains on one IP).
I think you need your clients to update the nameservers for their domains (i.e. DNS) to return the IP address of your hosting server. Then you need to configure your server to return the right website based on the domain that was originally requested.
That requires your "database driven website" to look in the HTTP request and check which domain was originally requested, then it can handle the request accordingly.
- If you are using Apache, see how to configure Apache to host multiple domains on one IP address.
- If you are using Microsoft IIS, maybe Host-Header Routing is what you need.
You will likely need code changes on your "database driven website" to cope with these changes.
I'm not sure that having a dedicated IP address per domain will help much, as then you have to find a way to host all those IP addresses from a single web server. However, if your web server architecture already supports a shared database and multiple servers, then that approach might work well for you, especially if you expect the load from some domains to be so heavy that you need a dedicated web server for them.
Google does not include URL in its index which return a 301 status code. The reason is pretty obvious on second thought, because the redirect tells Google "Whatever was here before has moved there, please update your references". One solution I can see is setting up Apache virtual hosts on your server for each external domain, and have each rep configure their domain's DNS A record to point to the IP address of your server.