Browsing with Different Host Name Styles

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 with SP1

Connectivity and authentication problems can be related to Domain Name System (DNS) issues, the configuration of host headers, and general network anomalies. To understand the nature of a problem, it is sometimes helpful to vary the way that you type the host name in the requested Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Use any of the following variations:

  • Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN). A fully qualified DNS name that uniquely identifies the computer. This name is a combination of the DNS host name and the DNS domain name, in the format Hostname,DomainName. For example, if the DNS host name is host1 and the DNS domain name is example.contoso.com, the fully qualified DNS name is host1.example.contoso.com.

  • Network BIOS (NetBIOS) name. The computer name recognized by Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) in the format HostName, which maps the name to an IP address. For example, the NetBIOS name for host1.example.contoso.com is host1.

  • IP address. The address used to identify a unique node on an IP network. This address is typically represented with the decimal value of each octet, separated by a period (for example, 192.168.7.27).

Note

IIS6.0 also supports IPv6 addressing. For more information, see IPv6 and IIS 6.0.

Browsing with different host name styles is useful for the following reasons:

  • Certificate authentication requires matching the host name from the URL to the Common Name (CN) imprinted in the server certificate.

  • In Kerberos authentication, the requested Kerberos service ticket is keyed off of the host name entered in the URL. If the wrong host name is used, a service ticket might not be obtainable.

  • The host header configuration in the ServerBindings metabase property dictates how an HTTP request is routed into the service. This relies upon matching the requested host name with an appropriate host header configuration.

  • The simple name resolution process can differ when you use a NetBIOS name instead of an FQDN. Using a NetBIOS name in the URL is similar to pinging to test name resolution of the NetBIOS name to the IP address.

  • Internet Explorer can unexpectedly prompt for credentials during NTLM authentication (also referred to as Windows NT Challenge/Response authentication) when the host name portion of the requested URL contains a period. Using the NetBIOS name rather than an FQDN or IP address might indicate the cause. For more information, see Knowledge Base article 258063, Internet Explorer May Prompt You for a Password.

  • Browsing by IP address is a foolproof way to rule out name resolution problems. However, the host header (set with the ServerBindings property) must be appropriately configured.