Own Webhosting Port fowarding, Set "A record"

[BKK20 0]

Hi,
I would like to start a website behind airvpn on my own server at home. I bought a domain and I wanna set the a record to the ip of the exit airvpn server. Unfortunately,  the domain host use the standard http port 80 for forwarding.

But for airvpn, first I need a remote port which is linked to local port 80. 

But i cannot set/change it to the remote port on the domain provider. 

What should I do?

[Staff 10014]

@BKK20

Hello!

Not a problem: the listening port of your web server is decided by your web server, according to how you configure it. Domain names have nothing to do with ports.

Please check:
https://airvpn.org/faq/port_forwarding/

Kind regards
 

[BKK20 0]

Thanks, but the "A record" port from the domain host is fixed to http, 80.

actually, the port from the domain host has to change to the remote port from airvpn.

How can I do it? Locally on my server, its not a problem that the webserver is listening to port 80. But to reach my webserver from the internet, the a record has to listen to the remote port.

Do you understand my problem?
thanks in advance!
 

[Staff 10014]

@BKK20
 

Hello!

DNS doesn't provide port numbers and DNS records do not listen to anything. It's some running software which "listens". And it's the client the one which picks the destination port to try.

In a browser, if the port number is not specified, normally :80 for HTTP and :443 for HTTPS are added to complete the URL. The client must always specify the port as well, it's a mandatory field in TCP and UDP packets. Separate name and port with a colon. Example:

http://somename.org:12345

 

As an additional option, you can also "re-map" your remotely forwarded port(s) to different port numbers. In this way packets reaching remote VPN server port will be forwarded to your node on another port number.

 

Kind regards

[BKK20 0]

How can I do it?
For example I bought the domain example.com
If someone type the domain in the browser, there should be a redirection to my webserver at home behind airvpn. 
The webserver is listen to local port 80 and remote port ist 34343.

Does it mean the user hast to type in the browser example.com:43433?
actually he should not type any portnumber on the browser.

Do you have a small tutorial?

[Staff 10014]

@BKK20
 

Hello!

 

The user running the client (the browser in this case) must always type the remote port when it's not 80 or 443, which are added automatically if missing. Name and port must be separated by a colon. The port is an integral and mandatory part of HTTP URL since when it was defined in 1994, 27 years ago.  More in general, an HTTP URL conforms, and has always conformed, to the generic URI syntax, see also:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL

 

Kind regards

 

[BKK20 0]

I know that, but I need the solution for AirVPN? Does nobody understand me? 

My new domain should be reachable from the internet behind an AirVPN Server with the standard port http, https. 
But as everyone knows that I cannot forward port 80, I have to use an remote port.

But the client at the internet should not enter enter any remote port. He should just enter the domain name like all other websites.

[Staff 10014]

22 minutes ago, BKK20 said:

I know that, but I need the solution for AirVPN? Does nobody understand me?

Hello!

Yes of course. Maybe you have missed the answers twice, please check them:

https://airvpn.org/forums/topic/49776-own-webhosting-port-fowarding-set-a-record/?do=findComment&comment=169233
https://airvpn.org/forums/topic/49776-own-webhosting-port-fowarding-set-a-record/?do=findComment&comment=169282

Kind regards
 

[BKK20 0]

Hmh ok. I will try it like described:
1) Set "a record" by domain host to the Server IP Adress from AirVPN e.g. www.example.com ->  140.140.150.150
2) Add AirVPN Port Forwarding e.g. RemotePort 34567 -> local port 80

After that if I enter in my browser www.example.com (without any port). I get a respsone from my server

Is it working like this?

[Staff 10014]

@BKK20
 
Step 1 is almost correct: please remember that our VPN servers have different entry and exit-IP addresses The relevant DNS record must be set to the exit-IP address.

Step 2 is correct..

"after that" is not correct. The proper URI for your browser would be http://www.example.com:34567 or https://www.example.com:34567 (http or https according to your web server settings). Also remember to access your web server running behind a VPN server from a machine that's not connected to the same VPN server.

Kind regards
 

[BKK20 0]

Great, thanks! That means without the remote port at the end of the domain name it's not possible.

That also means, if I want to have a website like others in the internet (just enter domain name, w/o port number)  I have to buy a web hosting package externally.

I cannot do it with AirVPN.

[Staff 10014]

@BKK20

Exactly. The port is always added as it is an integral part of the URI, but when omitted in the URI, this is auto-completed with :80 and :443 respectively for HTTP and HTTPS, as we already told you twice. AirVPN does not allow remote inbound port forwarding of ports between 1 and 2048, as reported in the FAQ and the manual. AirVPN is not a hosting provider.

You might rent a VPS or a dedicated server to run your web server or any other service, and then you may make your service reachable on any port you like. If you don't need any privacy or anonymity layer for your web server (or other service), that's a logical solution, and it's not expensive.

Kind regards
 

[BKK20 0]

In case you know:
If I host a website at home with a remote port via AirVPN, is google able to scan the website, respectively does the crawler from google find my website even it's not port 80?

[Staff 10014]

6 minutes ago, BKK20 said:

In case you know:
If I host a website at home with a remote port via AirVPN, is google able to scan the website, respectively does the crawler from google find my website even it's not port 80?

Yes, Google Search can index web sites even when the web server listens to non-standard ports, according to some Google executives.

https://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/77378/does-google-treat-different-ports-as-different-sites
https://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/61762/does-google-crawl-and-index-sites-hosted-on-an-ip-address-only-with-no-domain-n/61767#61767

Kind regards
 

[OpenSourcerer 1441]

If I may add more info, fortunately Google Search adheres to the robots.txt "standard". So if you add this to a robots.txt in the root of your webspace, everything hosted in that webspace won't be crawled.

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Specifically for Google, their bot checks the "robots" meta tag in the header of a webpage to determine whether to index it or not. See Hacker News.