Take the 2-minute tour ×

I am trying to make WSS3 accessible on a new server. Currently it resides on a Win2003 SBS server. I have migrated to a Win2008 R2 server, but I am having difficulty accessing the site outside the local machine.

The old server makes SharePoint available on http://sharepoint:800. I would like the new server to expose it at the same address, because I have ~10 InfoPath forms programmed to point at this address. (Both are in the same AD domain)

I have already disabled the sharepoint sites in IIS on the old server and configured host headers for sharepoint:800, sharepoint.company.com:800 and *:800 on the new server. I have also setup alternate access mappings.

At this point I can access sharepoint on the new server's ip address, but on port 80 instead of 800 ( http://sharepoint, http://sharepoint.company.com and various permutations of those with different port numbers, don't work.

Even the new server's hostname doesn't work - either or port 80 or 800.

At this point I am starting to run out of ideas. I am relatively new at server administration, so I would appreciate some advice to help me solve this problem.

share|improve this question
You skipped over the kind of crucial details about what this "migration" entailed. How did you try to migrate your SharePoint site? –  HopelessN00b Oct 8 '12 at 23:41
It has been successfully migrated. It all works, BUT I need to be able to access it on a specific hostname. To migrate I backed up and restored the content databases into a fresh install of WSS3 sp3. –  Black Knight Oct 8 '12 at 23:43
Well, I'd say not being able to access it by hostname means it's not working, but whatever. Semantics. What happens when this new server does an nslookup on its hostname? Sounds like you might be having DNS issues on the new server. –  HopelessN00b Oct 8 '12 at 23:46
From the new server: "***sharepoint.company.local can't find srv2, Non-existant domain". From the old server (also the domain controller): "***sharepoint.company.local can't find svr2: Server failed". Note sharepoint.company.local is the old server which is also the domain controller. It's hostname is sbs, not sharepoint - I don't know where the "sharepoint" prefix is stored. –  Black Knight Oct 8 '12 at 23:53
Well, there you go, your DNS is messed up. That's what you need to fix. –  HopelessN00b Oct 8 '12 at 23:55
show 2 more comments

1 Answer

up vote 0 down vote accepted

You've got a problem with DNS. At least one problem, anyway. Go to your DNS server (hopefully also your Domain Controller, which would be your SBS box, if I'm remembering my SBS correctly) and make sure the new server has a proper entries in DNS (both forward and reverse entries). If they're not there, add them.

Once that's done, you'll need to change the sharepoint.company.local entry or alias as well, and I'm guessing you'd want that to point at the new server that's actually hosting SharePoint now. Might be a good idea to make sure all your DNS entries are accurate and valid while you're in there, by the way.

Then, verify that your new server is actually pointed at the right DNS server (or any DNS server at all), and if not, add one.

But that should be it - once you've got your DNS records sorted out, you should be able to get to your SharePoint server by name.

share|improve this answer
Thanks for your advice. –  Black Knight Oct 9 '12 at 0:06
add comment

Your Answer


