Confluence DNS Name redirection to application server
Asked by Navadeep:

Hi Atlassians,

Could you please help me out in resolving an issue related to DNS redirection to confluence application server.  
The current PRODUCTION environment's URL of our Confluence is  
confluence.\<companyname\>.edu. \[Just I will take example of any university\]  
Ex; confluence.cornell.edu  
When the application users hit the URL : "confluence.cornell.edu", this will redirect users to the confluence page. But internally it is connected to the application server where the application is installed.  
For Ex: "abc180.cornell.edu" is the application server where the Confluence is installed.  
As Confluence uses port 8090 , I can access the application using below link as well.  
abc180.cornell.edu:8090.

As we are using old version of Confluence(version 5.6.4), we have planned for an upgrade to 6.2.4 version of Confluence.  
Completed the Migration and Upgrade successfully in TEST Environment. Then after our networking team have give us an DNS name "confluence1test.cornell.edu" which will redirect to the home page of Confluence.  
"confluence1test.cornell.edu" is an alias name for new application server(xyz.cornell.edu) in TEST environment  
But, when I hit the DNS name\[confluence.cornell.edu\] provided by our networking team, I could not launch the application. Getting error beloow.

=================================================  
This site can't be reached

confluence.cornell.edu took too long to respond.  
Go to <http://cornell.edu/>  
Search Google for confluence test cornell  
ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT  
=================================================

But when I hit the DNS name with port 8090 added, "confluence1test.cornell.edu:8090" I was able to launch the application.

I am not sure where the problem is ? Just crosschecked with the PRODUCTION settings as well. It is saying that the alias name  
for "confluence.cornell.edu" is "abc180.cornell.edu"

I asked the networking team to add port "8090" as well to the DNS. (It is not right I guess). Below is the reply I got from them  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------The :8090 portion is not handled by DNS. It is a client directive to use an alternate tcp port. If the confapp02ta server is running on 8090 you'll need to either update the links or listed on :80 and redirect clients to the appropriate port.  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Could you please suggest me where the issue could be ? Do I need to make any changes from my end ? Or the Networking team need to take care of this ?

Best Regards,

Nav


Answers:
author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: DNS is not the answer here, all it can do is tell your users to use an ip address when a server name is needed. You don't want redirects either, you should use Confluence on a single url.

My guess is that either production is running on port 80, or it is running behind a proxy server that is proxying port 80 to 8080. You'll need to work out which one of these is more appropriate for you. The server administrator should be able to tell you what it is, and they and your network team should recommend the better route (usually, it's going to be a proxy)