Static IP / Hostname

[Brian Clark <brianj@ais.ais-gwd.com>]

Greetings:

If anyone makes it through this email, I'd be very happy if you could help. :)

I am a fairly new Linux user, trying to go static after many years of being
dynamic. Of course by the Subject, I'm talking about my IP address.

When I first dove into Linux land, I started out with RedHat, then I moved
to Debian. I basically had to configure my own PPP connection in RedHat,
but Debian helped me with this upon installation (which was much much easier).

Now, after using dialup in Debian for about a few weeks now (dynamically),
I've decided to get a static IP. I have that IP, and I've been trying to
get everything configured correctly.

Let me explain a few things first to avoid any confusion.

1. I basically got the static ip address assigned to me so I could serve
beta web sites locally, while they are under construction. (Also ftp,
telnet etc.)

2. This Linux machine is not on a local network. It is not connected to my
home ethernet, but It may be as I become more familiar with Linux.

3. I am running Apache, and have it configured correctly.

4. I ran pppconfg again, entering the remote IP and my local IP instead of
'noipdefault' that I used before, dynamically.


Here is what I /can/ do like it is now (which the static ip):

1. http://localhost/  -- this comes up fine in Netscape on the Linux machine.
2. http://_my_IP_address_here_/ -- this works also (of course "my ip
address" is the IP number)
3. http://me.my-isp.com/ -- this is where it gets hairy. this comes up on
the LINUX machine, but..
(of course, again, me.my-isp.com is my domain name for the static ip)
4. telnet me.my-isp.com -- while on the Linux machine


If I go over to the windows machine, open a browser and type in:

http://me.my-isp.com/ I cannot connect, and it refuses rather quickly.

If I type in (still at the windows machine):

http://_my_ip_address_/ it connects and loads just fine.

Aside from the above, in windows:

I can telnet to my Linux box just fine using my IP address. I can FTP, but
not anonymous, just fine, using the IP.
Basically, I cannot connect to my IP's domain name on any port - 21,23,80 -
using the domain name. the only way is by using the exact IP address.

Now, back to the Remote IP and the Local IP parts that I specified when I
ran pppconfig again:

1. I issued bash# tail -f /var/log/messages when I started my ppp
connection, and the logs verified that my remote IP and the local IP where
correct (just as I entered them). I can also verify this by bash# ifconfig ppp0

2. If I ping the local IP address and get 0% packet loss. 

3. If I ping the remote IP address, I get 100% packet loss.

4. I can surf just fine, use Licq, etc.


Is there anything I need to be looking for under netstat?

In conclusion, all I want to be able to do is type in my hostname, not the
IP, in another machine's browser, and connect to my Linux box via port 80,
and have Apache serve up the site.

Does it sound like the problem is with the ISP, or does it sound like I
have a configuration problem?

Thanks, if anyone made it this far -

Brian