general/5204: Primary web page redirected to random virtual page depending on full or partiallly qualified domain name

[jeremy ardley <je...@ardley.wattle.id.au>]

>Number:         5204
>Category:       general
>Synopsis:       Primary web page redirected to random virtual page depending on full or partiallly qualified domain name
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    apache
>State:          open
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   apache
>Arrival-Date:   Tue Oct 26 21:00:02 PDT 1999
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     jeremy@ardley.wattle.id.au
>Organization:
apache
>Release:        1.3.9
>Environment:
Linux Redhat 6.0 kernel 2.2.5-22 #1
redhat pre-compiled apache-1.3.9-4.i386.rpm
>Description:
I have set up a primary web page on the server with url office.someorg.com
The main definition records are 

ServerAdmin webmaster@someorg.com 
DocumentRoot /home/httpd/html                    
ErrorLog logs/error_log                          
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /home/httpd/cgi-bin/       
Alias /doc /usr/doc                              
User nobody                                      
Group nobody                                     

I have also set up a number of IP based Virtual hosts with url username.someorg.com.  Their definition record is of the form

<VirtualHost aa.bb.cc.dd>                   
        ServerName user.someorg.com
        DocumentRoot /home/user/public_html
</VirtualHost>                               

Each virtual host has a distinct IP address, and none has the same IP address as the primary server.  The DNS has records, forward and reverse for the user/IP pair.

Access via the LAN to http://office returns the correct page
Access via the LAN to Http://xx.yy.zz.aa returns the correct page
Access via the LAN to http://office.someorg.com returns one of the virtual hosts

The problem occurs in this form using IE 5.0 and Netscape 4.05 clients
The problem does not occur using Star Office 5.1 clients

DNS is provided by an external DNS server.  DNS records have been checked correct.  Forward and reverse DNS is in operation.  Forward and reverse records are correct.

Suggestions to create a virtual host for the primary IP address do not fix the problem.
>How-To-Repeat:

>Fix:
My work around is to use a virtual host at a different IP address to serve the main page content.  This is not satisfactory as there is a disparity between the web address and the administration addresses.
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