A short time ago I set up my own web-server. It's not as complete and secure as I wanted it to be: I still need to follow some tutorials/howto's/docs to fully understand iptables and to set up ftp and mail server. (links are appreciated if you got some good ones )
But now I have a question where I couldn't find a good answer to: why do I need a DNS server? Do I need one if I want to link a domain name to my server? If not, why would I need it? I see a lot of tutorials about how to set it up, but I never found a good reason to setup one :s
Thanks in advance,
Ruben

you don't need one at all. if you want to make a domain name point to your server then it's a lot lot easier to use a third party dns provider like zoneedit.com to do it for you. doing it yourself helps you learn a lot, but ultimately is overkill for any basic implementation. If you do want to play with DNS, i'd recommend dnsmasq, it's very simple and lightweight.

So if I just register a domain (at any place) I can just set my ip there and it'll work? What if I want to use subdomains, can I also use that thing (to link it to certain folders (in my webtree of course) on my server), or do I have to set them up in apache?

you would handle subdomains via apache, but you need to facilitate a way to resolve them in the first place. all your questions should be answered if you just look around zoneedit.com. others may also suggest a full dynamic dns host, like noip.com or dyndns.org

Hi,

DNS servers translate mydomain.com into 192.168.0.1. So when a person types english into a browser, the PC will know which PC (IP Address) serves the webpage requested.

DNS is a pain if you're not trained in networking. I know that directNic.com offers to use their DNS service for $5 a year ( I suppose that you have to buy your domain there, I don't know).

In any case, you still need a static IP address on your server for a reliable server.

Hope this helps

Tom