oblivious to DNS
 

currently I operate my site using Dns2go to keep track of my dynamic IP on the cable modem. However, they want $80 to have e-mail, which isn't good. So now I want to operate independently. I've been reading up on DNS(which I'm assuming I'll need) but i'm not understanding any of it. If anyone has a good explanation in plain english of how to setup an entire site, it'd be of great help. And I've already read through most of the DNS websites i've seen on this board, they're no good to me.

Thanks

Have you read http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/DNS-HOWTO.html (especially teh example files)?

yes i have and to be honest, i'm an intellegent guy but this insane. lol i just don't have a good grasp of what's going on.

I have one machine, and only one will be used. for www, email, ftp, etc.

With the domain I pointed it to both:

www.bake-sale.net and
ns1.bakesale.net

just to cover some bases. I know it'll take a few days to populate so that's not the issue. I'm just plain lost, thats all. can 'ns1' and 'www' point to the same machine? are they primary zones or domains or what? the terminology isn't that great...

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/answers/26

--jeremy

yeah bud, i read through that one too.

now messing around with some of the BIND settings I've been able to partially ping and tracert ns1.bake-sale.net.

is this a good thing? should i be excited about this?

Yes, it means your configuration works. If you still have problems with it, please post the zone file. Someone will correct it (if needed) for you.

rock on. i figured all those trial-and error settings would yield something.

now the next question to ask is directory namin for the client.

all html files are in /htdocs. if the client has website www.linuxquestions.org, would the directory be named 'linuxquestions' or is that something the DNS will point to specifically?

The name (and location) of the file is your choice. The only thing is to tell the server where's your file. It's done using 'file' command in named.conf file. To make a full path, you need to get directory in 'options' of thet file and 'file' secrtion describing your domain. Example:
In this case, the file describin yourzone.net is /var/named/master/yourzone.net
It can have any name, but it's a good idea to use a name similar to your domain (makes searching for the file easier).

the conf files
 

well i have read up on the subject and now it's come to an interesting situation.

here's the named.conf file:

/*
*named.conf - not using rndc
*/

options {
directory "/var/named";
};

zone "." in {
type hint;
file "db.cache";
};

zone "whoisrory.com" in {
type master;
file "whoisrory.com";
};

zone "0.168.192.in-addr.arpa" {
type master;
file "0.168.192.in-addr.arpa.dns";
};

the zone file for whoisrory.com(master) is:

$TTL 86400
@ IN SOA ns1.whoisrory.com. scot.jesusshaves.com. (
11
21600
3600
604800
86400 )

IN NS ns1.whoisrory.com.
www IN A ns1.whoisrory.com.




to me, it all looks nice however, going to ns1.whoisrory.com will yield you the defualt site on my computer. i can work around this, but using www .whoisrory.com gives you a bad website.

so now im a bit confused. lol.

Webmin offers a nice interface for setting up dns records and zone files.
Alternatly you could use dyndns.org for dynamic dns they allow mx records.

Hello,

I think you zone file is goofy. In your zone file, you have something like:

www IN A ns1.whoisrory.com

It should read (after all the TTL stuff and stuff, delete all in you file after 86400) )

NS ns1.whoisrory.com.
NS scot.jesusshaves.com.

ns1 A (insert IP address here)
www CNAME ns1.whoisrory.com.

CNAME specifies an alias, so www will point to ns1. Restart named after you make the changes. Also, windows boxes seem to cache DNS info, so a reboot might help, or just wait it out!

--Eric

eric,

thanks for the reply, that makes a lot of sense believe it or not. lol

now after all that is said and done and i've established the .com the next thing i woner is what happens if you run more than one site? do the zone files support "ip.ip.ip.ip/directory" as a valid CNAME argument? or is there another file type that actually redirects to a different directory on the same machine?

i know when i login to another site of mine (hosted with a different company) that my workign directory is the same as my domain name, minus the TLD indicator. THis is the direction i want to take.

Thanks again

scot

Scot,

As far as Apache, use the <VirtualHost> directive in your apache config file. Specifics can be found at http://httpd.apache.org/docs/vhosts/index.html
Apache has the ability to determine which directory to display based on the URL entered in the browser. So:
www.whoisrory.net can point to /var/www/whoisrory/index.html
-and-
www.whoami.net can point to /var/www/whoami/index.html
and so on.

For FTP and sendmail, etc. I would create a new master zone in your config file for each domain. You currently have whoisrory.net, but you could also have whoami,net, etc. in that file and have the zone files point to ns1.whoisrory.net. Sorry I can't be more specific, but I've only ever set up multiple domains for Apache, not sendmail or FTP.

--Eric