Anyone Experienced with VPS?

[FlamesPuck12]

I just recently signed up for VPS and I'm trying to configure everything to just host a simple web page as a test but so far no success.

First problem is, I got my domain parked at DNS provided by VPS (using Linode) but for some reason, it displays a different page than the direct IP.

Second, I'm still trying to learn my way around the VPS and I've heard that the main page is in /var/www/index.html. Is this the directory (root/var/www) where all the web pages should be going into?

Thanks

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by FlamesPuck12

I just recently signed up for VPS and I'm trying to configure everything to just host a simple web page as a test but so far no success.

First problem is, I got my domain parked at DNS provided by VPS (using Linode) but for some reason, it displays a different page than the direct IP.

Second, I'm still trying to learn my way around the VPS and I've heard that the main page is in /var/www/index.html. Is this the directory (root/var/www) where all the web pages should be going into?

Thanks

Assuming you are using a standard web server (probably apache) you can configure your pages to be served from any location. Really not much point in it as far as I am concerned though. That is the default location.

As for your Domain name/IP page display differences, I assume it is similar to how IIS can route a page accessed by a different domain name to a separate page hosted on the same port/server. It is called Host Header in IIS, but there is probably something similar in Apache.

edit: A quick google leads me to believe that you *might* want to use mod_rewrite to accomplish this. http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/misc/rewriteguide.html Note: I have never used this and never really done anything other than a basic page or prebuilt php package with Apache, so I might be totally wrong. Make sure you do some more research before you blindly start banging in commands.

[photon]

Have you updated your DNS settings to point to the new IP address? What page is it displaying when you use the name rather than the IP?

If the DNS is setup properly, it could also be an Apache configuration, there's a concept called virtual hosts where you have multiple websites on a single IP address and the site that gets displayed changes depending on the URL used to view the site, so it may not be set up to display the desired site with the URL you are specifying.

Typically Apache is configured to have the root for the web pages in /var/www or /var/www/html and yeah that's a good place to put all the web pages.

Is there a reason you chose a VPS? A VPS usually assumes you know your way around the operating system and server application configuration files, if you want simple web hosting for a small site without having to worry about all this technical stuff shared hosting is far more appropriate. VPS is usually for those with very specific site needs (specific software) or for those with sites too busy for typical shared hosting.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by photon

Have you updated your DNS settings to point to the new IP address? What page is it displaying when you use the name rather than the IP?

For the DNS part of the equation, the issue could also be that the old entry is still cached and will take some time to update. When working on setting up a new server its always a good idea to crank down the TTL and refresh intervals during testing so you're not stuck waiting or forced to work by IP address

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

For the DNS part of the equation, the issue could also be that the old entry is still cached and will take some time to update. When working on setting up a new server its always a good idea to crank down the TTL and refresh intervals during testing so you're not stuck waiting or forced to work by IP address

Given all the factors, that would be the simplest and most likely problem. I disregarded it because simple ping or nslookup of the domain name would tell you if that was the case and assumed it would have been done. In retrospect, you are probably closer to the mark given his apparent experience, or lack of, in this stuff.

[FlamesPuck12]

Thanks everyone, got it figured out now.

The problem was, I was just following the guide on setting up LAMP and they set up a virtual host. So by typing in the IP, it loaded up the page in var/www/public_html/index.html and the domain from svr/www/domain/index.html.