How To Enable the Map Channel Names to Host Header Names Feature (326783)

SUMMARY

When you use the Map Channel Names to Host Header Names feature in Content Management Server (CMS) 2001, you can host several independent virtual Web sites with a single CMS 2001 server. You can access all the virtual Web sites through different fully qualified Domain Name System (DNS) names.

This article provides step-by-step instructions that describe how to set up a CMS 2001 server with the Map Channel Names to Host Header Names feature enabled in a public site and in a developing or testing environment.

NOTE: If you enable Map Channel Names to Host Header Names on your CMS 2001 server, you cannot use CMS Site Stager to stage the CMS 2001 site contents into HTML or Active Server Pages (ASP) files. This behavior is by design and is documented on page 45 of the CMS Setup Guide.

MORE INFORMATION

The difference between enabling Map Channel Names to Host Header Names in a public site and in a developing environment is that the DNS name entry for a public site is stored in the DNS server, and the DNS name entry for a developing environment is stored in the Hosts file that is located in /Winnt/System32/Drivers/Etc.

Before you enable this feature, read through page 45 of the CMS Setup Guide to obtain a fundamental concept of how this feature works.

In the following examples, www.cmssample1.com and www.cmssample2.com are used as the two virtual Web sites.

To create two independent public virtual Web sites, follow these steps:

At the root channel level in CMS 2001, create two channels named www.cmssample1.com and www.cmssample2.com with the Site Builder tool.
Create a set of templates, pages, and postings to be used for each channel, and then position them with the Site Builder tool.NOTE: You must use the Site Builder tool to create templates, but you can use either the Site Builder tool or the Web Browser Client (WBC) to create pages and postings.
Click Start, point to Programs, click Microsoft Content Management Server, and then click Server Configuration Application to start the Server Configuration Application (SCA).
Click the General tab, and then click Configure.
Next to Map Channel Names to Host Header Names, select Yes to enable the feature.
Add name entries to the DNS server for www.cmssample1.com and www.cmssample2.com. Reference both DNS names to the same IP address that is used by the CMS 2001 server as the Web entry point that is specified on the Web tab in the SCA.NOTE: This step must be performed by a DNS server administrator or under the supervision or consultation of a DNS or network administrator.

To create two independent virtual Web sites for development purposes, follow these steps:

Follow steps 1-5 in the preceding section to set up a public site.
Open Windows Explorer, and then open the Hosts file that is located in /WinNT/System32/Drivers/Etc with a text editor such as Notepad.
After the last line (or last name entry) of the Hosts file, insert two additional name entries for www.cmssample1.com and www.cmssample2.com, and then reference both entries to the IP address that is configured to be the CMS 2001 Web Entry Point in the SCA.

After you follow these steps, you can open your browser and use URLs such as http://www.cmssample1.com/default.htm or http://www.cmssample2.com/default.htm to access your two channels in CMS 2001 (if you have default pages for both channels).

Note that in the development scenario, the same Hosts file modification must propagate to all client computers that want to access the CMS 2001 Web site as www.cmssample1.com and www.cmssample2.com because only the computer on which the Hosts file is located recognizes changes to the Hosts file.