[chef] Running Chef Server behind NAT

[Ming Fang < >]

Hi

I’m trying to build a Chef Server to run inside Docker and am facing some 
challenges with the fqdn.
https://github.com/mingfang/docker-chefserver
The problem can be generalized to any time Chef Server is behind a NAT.

The problem is Chef Server currently requires the fqdn to be set in 
/etc/chef-server.rb before running reconfigure.
I finally found the configuration that works here
http://serverfault.com/questions/483957/chef-connection-refused-for-cookbook-upload

However a server behind a NAT has two names, one facing outside and one 
facing inside.
Why do we need to hardcode the fqdn in the first place?
Why can we simply use whatever the host name is coming from the http requests?
That way the overall configuration is simplified and Chef Server would just 
work for all clients inside and outside the NAT.

—ming