Authentication Problem When IP Address Is Used in the URL

Question

I am using IIS 6.0 and have a virtual directory setup. The server is setup on my company's intranet. Under the security settings, anonymous access is disabled, integrated windows authentication is enabled, digest authentication for windows domain servers is enabled, and the realm has our AD domain address.

Everything works fine with this authentication when the the site is accessed with the URL including the machine name like, "http://myServerName/myWebSite/". However, when we use this format, "http://myIPAddress/myWebSite/", a security box pops up. If credentials are entered in this box, everything works properly. Why is this popping up when the IP Address is used in the URL in place of the machine name?

The reason we need to use the IP Address in the URL is that the URL with the server name is not recognized in all of our locations.

Answer 1

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/258063

This KB article has the answer, as IP address will be treated as Internet zone.

You can set up DNS so as to resolve server name correctly to IP, or follow the suggestions mentioned in KB 258063.