[clue-talk] host's index file inaccessable unless specified in url..help?

[Matt Gushee]

John Kennedy wrote:
> good morning all,
> 
> I have an el cheapo Qwest dsl line.
> I have a Debian Webserver in a DMZ 
> The webserver is a Debian [MEPIS distro].
> The DMZ is on a Smoothwall box.
> The modem is an Actiontec from Qwest/MSN.

It's unlikely that any of this would make a difference. You don't have a
problem accessing the site, it's a URL mapping issue on the server side.

> The problem:
> 
> If I just insert the domain name in the browser [w/o
> the index.html with it], the site will not appear.
> 
> But if I add 'index.html' to the right of the domain
> it comes up fine.
> 
> What should I check first to fix this?

Your Apache configuration. You're probably missing a line like this:

  DirectoryIndex  index.html

If you have access to the main Apache configuration file, you can put it
there. Or if you're on a shared Web server, you can put in in an
.htaccess file in your Web root. If the hosting company won't let you
edit .htaccess, get another hosting companies.

BTW, I recommend having the Apache documentation at your fingertips:

 http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/

It's thorough and fairly readable ... the main problem is there's so
damn much of it. But 90% of what you need to know is in the "Run-time
Configuration Directives" section.

-- 
Matt Gushee
Englewood, CO, USA