Home Exchange server and NAT stopping me from using it

Ol!ver · 26 Apr 2012 at 01:36

I've set up Exchange 2010 in a VM on my home server. For the most part it is working well, and outside my home network it is fine. However, NAT obviously means that when I am on my home network, I cannot access the Exchange server via my external IP because the router has a fit.

Does anyone have any tricks up their sleeve for getting around that? I'm contemplating using my spare MIFI over USB, which I could dedicate to the one VM with Exchange on it and that would obviously do the trick. It's a bit of a hack though, and I wondered if there was any kind of fancy routing I could do to get around NAT?

I can't be the only one with an issue like this.

Cheers.

marc2003 · 26 Apr 2012 at 01:50

-check to see if your router has an option you can enable - something like "nat loopback". that will get around this issue.

-failing that, edit the hosts file on each pc on the local network (typically c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts) with internal ip mapped to your external domain eg...

Code:

192.168.0.1    myexchangeserver.com

Ol!ver · 26 Apr 2012 at 01:51

marc2003 said:
-check to see if your router has an option you can enable - something like "nat loopback". that will get around this issue.

-failing that, edit the hosts file on each pc on the local network (typically c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts) with internal ip mapped to your external domain eg...

Code:

192.168.0.1 myexchangeserver.com

I'll check the router, thanks.

The problem with changing the host file is two-fold. First, that then means none of the machines work outside the home network, which is no good for my MacBooks, and secondly it obviously won't work with my iPhone.

bremen1874 · 26 Apr 2012 at 02:38

Given this problem and your other post regarding bounced emails and smart hosts is it really worth the hassle?

There's nothing wrong with running your own mail server (I do), but a Sky Internet connection and router isn't a good starting point.

Ol!ver · 26 Apr 2012 at 09:02

bremen1874 said:
Given this problem and your other post regarding bounced emails and smart hosts is it really worth the hassle?

There's nothing wrong with running your own mail server (I do), but a Sky Internet connection and router isn't a good starting point.

I don't need to do it, I'll probably never use it anyway, but that's not the point.

Sky's router nor the broadband should matter. Ports are forwarding fine, and the connection hasn't rebooted in months. I'm not sure why that is relevant.

As for why I am doing it - why not? It's all part of learning.