Local Access vs Remote Access: Can’t do both

  • Resolved korkiley

    (@korkiley)


    16 years, 5 months ago

    I have WordPress installed on a home computer running Windows XP SP3. I have Verizon/Fairpoint DSL and I’m using DynDNS and DynDNS Updater and port forwarding port 8085 to port 80 on my local network. I can access everything from a remote machine but when I try to access from the local machine, I can’t because WordPress is expecting to be accessed at the address https://myhost.net:8085/wordpress (not https://myhost.net/wordpress/ or https://localhost/wordpress/ )

    I already have an entry in my ../windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts file aliasing myhost.net to the non-routable ip of the local machine. But, I don’t think the hosts file is the answer to my problem. The problem results because of the need to contact the router on port 8085 since my ISP rejects port 80.

    Is this a problem I can deal with in WordPress itself or with some kind of redirection in httpd.conf…or in some other way?

    So far, the only way that I’ve been able to access WordPress from my local network is to connect to my university VPN on a laptop and access from there. But I really want to access from the host itself.

    For what it’s worth, the wordpress address and the “blog address” in the wordpress settings page are both set to https://myhost.net:8085/wordpress and I changed DB_HOST in wp-config.php from localhost to myhost.net. Oh! Could it be that if I set the wordpress address to localhost, that is what is required? I’m at work now so I can’t try that.

    Thank you in advance for all offers of help.

    Kor Kiley

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

  • The short answer is in your topic title: you can’t have both.

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    www.remarpro.com Admin

    You can do it if you set your router to allow loopback connections. I know linksys routers have this option somewhere. Sometimes it’s called “reverse NAT”. Basically, it lets your router route an outgoing connection back to an internal port. So when you connect to mysite:8085 from the inside, it sends the request back internally just like it would if you had connected from the outside. You’ll use the same mysite:8085 address on the inside as you do on the outside in such a circumstance.

    Thread Starter korkiley

    (@korkiley)

    Thank you, but that seems rather amazing–that there’s no way to do both.

    Well, I guess I’ll have to stop beating my head against the wall, as much as I enjoy it! ??

    Thread Starter korkiley

    (@korkiley)

    But, if I were to have httpd listen on port 8085 and remove the port forwarding, then I should be able to access locally as well as remotely. Shouldn’t I?

    Thread Starter korkiley

    (@korkiley)

    I got it almost right. I configured httpd.conf to listen on hostname:8085.

    Of course I still needed to portforward 8085 so that it goes to the correct local IP. The only way around this is to configure the server as a DMZ which substantially compromises the security of the system.

    I find that having to portforward really restricts your freedom to do many things!

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    www.remarpro.com Admin

    Did you even check the settings in your router? Because my answer really does work. Really.

    Thread Starter korkiley

    (@korkiley)

    Hi Otto42,

    I’m sorry. I completely missed your post. Thank you for the excellent suggestion. I will certainly check the settings on my router when I return home this evening. Your’s would be a very elegant solution. I have a Belkin router, not a Linksys, but one can always hope. ??

    Thread Starter korkiley

    (@korkiley)

    Alas, my Belkin Pre-N router doesn’t have the loopback feature. At least my first solution works perfectly fine. The real pain is having to portforward to begin with since I can’t provide services on any other ports.

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    www.remarpro.com Admin

    Wow, really? Geeze…

    Well, now I know never to buy a Belkin product, I guess. Get a Linksys and install DD-WRT on the thing. It’ll do anything.

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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