Dear all,
I try to setup a home-based webserver and need some advice to accomplish it.

Suppose I have an Apache server on XP windows, a domain, and a no-ip hosts (since I have dynamic IP address). What I do:

1. The hardware configuration:
internet <--> modem <--> router <--> server
where the server resides in local subnet.

2. Suppose the hostname is ethereal1m.no-ip.org (which is assigned by no-ip) and attach it to my domain, which is www ethereal.com

3. Configure Apache virtual host www ethereal.com and set the server name to it.

The problem is when I ping www ethereal.com, I get nothing, I thought the domain needs some time to attach to the host.

So in the Apache, I change the virtual host configuration from www ethereal1m.com to ethereal1m.no-ip.org just to see if this works. I can ping ethereal1m.no-ip,org just fine, but the when I try to browse to it, it doesn't work.

Could anybody point me which part that I do wrong, this is my first time configuring a home based webserver.

Regards,
ethereal1m

Try adding your domain to your hosts file (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts) and point it to localhost. The line should look liek this in the file.

127.0.0.1 www.ethereal.com

Once you do that, save the file, and load the URL in your browser. If it works, then the server is setup correctly, and you cab assume it's a DNS or networking problem. If not, then it is a server problem.

your modem/router probably does NOT allow "loopbacks"

Why are you assigning a hostname to hostname? It'll still be resolved from your IP so the process will just be slower

@Onkel E, yes I you are right, I should not do that.

Ok, this works when I put port forwarding to the router and couple port 80 with my server IP address and use no-ip.org domain directly.