HOWTO: How to setup domain host (Go Daddy) with private web server (IIS)

12/16/2012
This article provides steps to configure Go Daddy and a private IIS web server on Windows 7 to host a web site.

Go Daddy

1. Go to http://www.godaddy.com/
2. Login
3. Go to Domain Management
  a. All Products > Domains > Domain Management
4. Click Launch under DNS Manager

At this point you can create your record depending on your needs. The following is some steps to create a host record. If you want to set the default, just edit Host @ to the IP address of your web server.

1. Follow the steps above if you haven't done so already
2. Click Add Record
3. Set Record Type to A (Host)
4. Enter a hostname
  a. This is the name that will appear before your domain name (ie hostname.domain.com)
5. Enter IP Address of your web server
6. Typically TTL is set for an hour. This just tells the DNS servers how often to check to see if this record is updated. If this is your first time, I recommend keeping it at half hour or 1 hour. If you choose half hour, be sure to update this setting later. I like to keep this short so that if I make a mistake I do not have to wait a long period of time for the configuration to be updated. Once everything is work, I update this to a longer period of time.
7. Click OK
8. Wait for this setting to take place
  a. You can verify if this takes place by pinging the hostname (ie ping hostname.domain.com) and see if the IP address has been updated

IIS

1. Open IIS
2. Create a new website
  a. Right Click on Sites > Add New Website...
3. Enter Site name, Physical Path, enter host name.
  a. Configure any of the other fields if needed for your situation.
4. Click OK

Depending on how your IIS is configured, you may need to update your Application Pools to the correct .NET Framework.

Troubleshooting

When dealing with network configurations, many things can be misconfigured and produce the same error. I am not a network expert so the following are just my experience if you face any problems.

If you see a 404 error, check to see if you can ping your hostname to see if the DNS has been updated. If this is correct, then you configured Go Daddy (or your DNS Server) properly. If not, then check to see if you have configured it correctly. The setup is rather straightforward so I'm not sure what else to check if that is not work properly. I haven't ran into this problem with the 10 domains I've set up in the past. I do this step anyways as a sanity check.

If you see a web error, check if you get the same error when running the web application locally. I typically set my default webserver in IIS to test that the application is working properly. You could test the local IP address, but adds a layer of firewalls if it continues to not work. If the web application is not working, check to see that the Application Pool is configured correctly, check if the physical path is correct, and that all the files are there.

The above two are typically easy to catch and fix. Both are mostly to make sure that the individual parts are working before troubleshooting the point between the internet and the webserver. This is where the routers and firewalls need to be configured correctly. Some routers/modems are configured to handle external access so will display the router/modem configuration page instead of letting the traffic flow through to the webserver when inside the network. A quick check is to check the site from a system outside of your network (ask a friend, coworker, or VPN). If that works, you will need to configure your router/modem to bypass.

If problem continues, make sure that you are forwarding port 80 to your webserver. I do not know how to test if the correct setting is working properly outside of just opening the website. The last thing to check (at least for me) is to make sure that the hostname is configured correctly in IIS. GOOD LUCK!