Same Server, multiple IPs/Domains

[mvysny]

Hi, thank you for the ownCloud software - it is a wonderful tool indeed. I would like to humbly request the following feature: please allow the client to specify multiple URLs to connect to - the client will simply find first URL it can access and will connect to it. There is no need for fail-over and reconnect round-robin to other URLs, should the network fail - the use case is described here:

http://forum.owncloud.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=20023

Now, this problem can be solved by three other solutions, all of them has nasty drawbacks; for details see https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Why_can't_I_access_forwarded_ports_on_my_WAN_IP_from_my_LAN/OPTx_networks

1. NAT loopback - not supported on many routers (including mine, regardless of what TP-Link claims)
2. Split DNS - requires registered DNS name of your server. You cannot simply add entry to /etc/hosts and override this setting with your home DNS, as /etc/hosts stuff is resolved first and your DNS setting is ignored.
3. clever tricks - hardly applicable to Windows.

Sorry for such long post and thanks again,
Best regards,
Martin

[mvysny]

Also, NAT Loopback is considered a security issue for some reason...

[danimo]

So you are suggesting to try to connect to first to an internal IP (e.g. 192.168.x.x) and then to the public-facing IP via its DNS name?

At least a naive implementation of this would be extremely dangerous (credential leakage).
@LukasReschke, let's discuss this later this week.

[mvysny]

@danimo it is exactly as you say. I have not realized the security issues though - you are right. Perhaps this feature should not be generic (any list of URLs) but it must be limited specifically to target this particular home/public network situation - at most two, "home" and "public" IPs may be entered. Then, the client can employ a detection algorithm whether the home network is present. I have thought of two options:

1. public IP detection - connect to "home" IP only when this network's public IP is equal to the "public" IP. This may not be secure enough in NAT-behind-NAT situations.
2. The "home" IP (or the router) must have certain MAC address which the user must enter. This is perhaps more reliable, but also more technical. The client can however auto-detect MAC address and may point the user to documentation for details...

[guruz]

@mvysny Maybe summarize your points on #203
Then I'm closing this as duplicate.