howdy LQ'ers,

ive been wondering on how to set up a DNS server with a local domain, and how would i go about doing that? and then, even then, if i had a local domain, would i still need to register the domain name, and in order to have a domain name, do i need to pay for it if i have my own DNS servers? Or am i just going about this all wrong? just looking for a clear answer. thanks anyone.

Can't answer the local domain question very well, but it is possible, I have seen it done with SME server. Here is an example howto: http://chaos-laboratory.com/2006/12/...your-intranet/

In order to 'own' a particular domain, other than local, you must buy the domain, and then you can point your own nameservers at it.

Yes you can have an internal domain and external domain. Most companies do the following.

internal = mydomain.local or mydomain.int or mydomain.root

external = mydomain.com.

your dns server can also host the external and internal domains. However hosting your external domain means that you need two dns servers with different static IPs and pretty much need to be secured.

to setup DNS use the service bind.

If you are just wanting a local domain that won't be used on the internet then you don't need to register it.

If, by a local domain, you mean a namespace in which those names are only visible to machines on your internal network, then you don't have to do anything with registrars, etc and if you don't have to have anything to do with registrars/hosting/... there is nothing that you have to pay for.

you have to get it registered externally for it to be visible on the wider internet and you have to pay for that

To be visible on the wider internet an external service needs to be pointing at your DNS servers, so having your own DNS servers does not make any difference (to this part of the problem). You still need the services of someone else, and until they start giving that service away for free (and sometimes its available 'bundled' with something else, so maybe it has 'no additional cost' even though that's not the same as free) you would have to pay for it.

Thank you everyone, these are very helpful answers. just what i was looking for too. thank you.