[surferboy]

I would like to host a few simple pages on my server in the office. I have Leopard Server runner on a Mac Pro; I have an airport extreme basestation (mushroom shaped one); I have an ISP that has given us 5 static IP addresses; I own a domain name and have a website (using this domain name) currently running on a commercially hosted server outside of the office. I created a subdomain (subdomain.mydomain.com) and I would like to host that subdomain on my server in the office. I know my host will create an A record and "point" that subdomain to wherever I ask them, as I have done something like this before.

I understand the basic concept I need to accomplish: outside world types subdomain --> a nameserver somewhere sends the request to my office --> my router sees request and through a port forward, that request is sent to the server in my office where the pages are sitting.

I am a bit of a beginner when it comes to networking, so here are some questions:

(1) When I set up port forwarding, is the static IP address to which I am assigning the subdomain the IP address of my router? Is it the server? My ISP gave us 5 static IP's. I don't know exactly which one to use. If I go to the web and find one of those "what is my IP", I get what looks like a static IP. Is that the one I should be using?

(2) Also, I am trying to make these pages secure using ssl, so I assume the port I want to forward on my router is 443? When I discuss this with the company hosting my domain, and I tell them I want to create an A record to a certain IP address, do I tell the 12.34.56.789:443? Or, is that not necessary?

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks!

[jamil5454]

1. When you're setting up port forwarding in your router config page you shouldn't need your public IP address... you need the internal IP address of the Mac Pro (as seen by the router). The public IP address you're using should be one of the static ones your ISP gave you. If you only have one cable/DSL modem I don't believe it's possible to have more than one public IP address, so this should be whatever whatismyip.com spits out.

2. SSL over HTTP uses port 443. Just make sure that you type https:// in front of every URL otherwise you won't be able to access your pages. You could open both 80 and 443 so that you can setup auto-redirect for anyone that forgets the https:// but this is up to you. Ports don't need to be specified when setting up DNS records, so all you need to give your host is your public IP address.