Ok well i want to get my own domain.
I have a webserver and i run apache.

ok so now i want to sign up for a www from godaddy.com and my question is do they give primary and secondary dns? or do i hve to get it from someother company and who does this?

so once i get dns i put it in the godday site config and then i forward the site to my ip?

since i hvae a dynamic ip right nowi hvae a hostname from dyndns.org and my router is set up to update their database everytime my ip changes so i hvae a "bootleg" static ip.

now can i use this hostnmae instead of telling godaddy my ip?
and if i did it this way would i need dns?

lmk

oh and can i run dns on the same machine? so i would use primary dns and for secondary dns ill put ina fake ass adress.this way if i have my dns up itll always work.what ya think?

A lot of people do this, its really easy.

Maybe, it'll be specifically advertised as such on the site. Some registrars do, some don't. Its always extra.

er, yeah,

A)Register the site, and in doing so you will have to point it at a pair of nameservers.
B)Build your primary and secondary records for those nameservers that point to your IP.

Its not really a bootleg static. Its a real world readable honest to gosh IP, its just that the DNS record that lives on nyndns.org's nameserver has a cache time of close to zero. Usually when joe-random-namserver has to ask your nameserver, in this case ns1.dyndns.org, where in the heck you are, the get a record that also says "cache me for 2 weeks". dyndns say, "don't cache me, I'll change too much." Therefore dyndns's nameserver gets pounded because no one caches records so requests take a long time as they go alllll the way to the canonical name server, ns1.dyndns.org. The upshot to this is as your IP changes constantly, dyndns always know and no one is caching an old address.


Nope. If they build a dns zone record for you, they need your IP, unless they do dynamic DNS servicing like dyndns.org, in which case you just cut out dyndns.org from the equation. Or, there are plenty of operations like dyndns.org, that simply have a nominal fee and will provide primary and secondary nameservice for you on ANY domain you want them too, not just your choice of hostname off of their stem URL. They cost money, but its relatively cheap.


You will NEED a secondary record. Whether that secondary record always has to be accurate or not I'm not sure. Before thinking about trying wacky things like running BIND on a machine with a dynamic IP, think of 2 things:

1) Is this important enough to switch ISPs over? I choose an ISP these days strictly by whether they hand out statics.

2) dynamic IPs usually don't change. Most DHCP servers out there will hold onto your old IP before putting it back into the pool for 24 hours. Barring a major power outage (get a UPS!), or a system crash, you could hold the same IP for months, heck some people have kept one for up to a year. If it changes, change your IP on your normal old DNS record to reflect the new one and wait 24-48 hours for propagation. Play everything right and mail going to you will stay queued and not even bounce. Some DHCP servers rapid cycle though, mainly the ISP is trying to keep you from getting away with running services they want you to pay them to not provide to you (*cough* *hack* Bellsouth!), but this sort of behavior started pissing off hardcore gamers so hence the pseudo-statics nowadays.

Luck,

Finegan