I'm aware that to have a domain name, you much register and pay to claim a domain name




Or, as I have been told, you can create and maintain it yourself


How so?

Well the thing about domain names are they need what is called a DNS or domain name sever these are designated sites which web browsers look for the I.P. addresses of most sites. So you have to register with one of those sites. Most www.xxxx.com sites the most important part is the ".com" this tells it where to look for the DNS which in turn sends you to another DNS until you reach the computer. The person that owns that DNS charges and so the price trickels down. There are free extensions (such as xxxx.dyn-o-saur.com) but you want the big deal (www.xxxx.com) you gotta pay the big bucks. try other extensions :-).

Well from the research I've done it seems like you can have your own DNS Server and claim your own domain names...

Can't you do that? I mean, I've read about programs such as BIND but I'm just wondering exactly how they work. After all, if it were that easy than just about anyone would go on a domain-claiming streak... and besides- you would need some sort of a conflict-resolution if you try to claim the same domain name. So I'm sure it's possible I'm just wondering how



Well... here is another question:

Suppose you wanted to start up your own ISP. So you have alot of server programs for email, and some for logging in, and some for displaying your web page... ect.

1. How can you, being your own ISP, claim your own domain name?

2. How can you "connect" to other servers so that you are acessable to the internet (so you arn't a network, you are available to the world)?




I'm just really curious, because in the late future I plan on starting up a server from home. I have no technical Internet-Networking know-how- but thats not a problems. I'm a fast learner and I have all the sources I need. Rather I just want to get an IDEA of what steps I need to go through- mostly so I know whether it is possible or not





Thanks

http://www.icann.org/ has all the information. To claim domain names yourself without registering them with a registrar, you'll have to become a registrar yourself.

For home use or even ISP's this is not practical. You can register a domain with a registrar and point the domain to your own DNS server (bind), which in turn points to the IP of the server running your webserver. This can be the same IP, but some registrars require two DNS IP's, some don't.

An ISP could sell domain names, but I haven't seen a single one doing so. They already pay enough to register IP ranges. Selling domain names is another type of business.

(Before I write this I just want to note that I did not have the time to go to that link in the previous reply. Sorry if I waste your time if any of my questions or comments can be answered on the site above- but I will go there later todat or tommorow!)


Hmm... very interesting. So I'm just wondering- do you have to pay to become a registrar?


I just find this curious because I thought (unless I misunderstood) that rebel hackers and groups such as Al Quida (not to get into poltics, just as an example) has servers of their own you can access. I mean, if that is so than surely they had to somehow get hold of that Domain Name some how... and how exactly?



Well, in what little time I had I did a little research and I only got more confused on the whole DNS thing... what is the point of having a DNS Server on your computer? What exactly is it's purpose ?




I swear I'll look this stuff up when have more time... big tests next week

Well you can create all the domain names you like (including top level like .com, .net, .foo, etc.) on your own LAN and BIND will happily serve them up if you configure it correctly, however no one else will be able to find you because the root DNS servers will not be able to tell others' DNS servers where to find your DNS info.

How DNS works:

.com, .net, .org, and all the other top-level domains are managed on what are called root DNS servers. They contain nameserver info, which associates DNS servers and domain names, providing "hinting" for DNS servers so they know how to serve queries. Also FYI: You won't be registering a top-level domain any time soon. You need a LOT of clout to register one, and Microsoft can't even accomplish that feat.

When you register your domain name, and you want to manage your own DNS, you have to register a "nameserver" which cannot be an IP address, but MUST be a host and domain name. For example, if you want to register:

foo.com
bar.com
foobar.com

You must have a nameserver to host them. To accomplish this for my company I registered another domain name:

foodns.net

and defined ns.foodns.net and ns2.foodns.net as the nameservers. The reason I registered the separate domain name was so that if I need to make changes to the others, in terms of moving them, or even deleting them and letting them expire, it will not impact the other domain names in any way.

So, for each domain name I define ns.foodns.net and ns2.foodns.net as domain name servers for the domains. That way, the root servers will direct other DNS servers to look to ns.foodns.net or ns2.foodns.net to obtain the IP for the exact hostname in question. Basically, in typical situations, your computer queries the ISP's DNS server to get the IP. That DNS server queries the root server (if needed) to find out what the nameserver for the domain name is. In our example, it now knows to go to ns.foodns.net at its IP. Then, once {ns|ns2}.foodns.net is contacted it handles the specific request. Your ISP's DNS server queries ns.foodns.net for the FQDN (fully qualified domain name, including hostname) then that info is forwarded from your ISP's DNS server to your computer's DNS client.

As far as any advantage of having a DNS server on your computer goes:

Improved DNS Caching, Decreased Latency. By running DNS locally, your computer will not have to query your ISP's DNS - your web browser, instant messanger, and other network apps will query your local computer's bind process. Your local bind process will go directly to the root servers then to the other domain's DNS server directly, decreasing the time to learn the IP of the requested page/service. The bottom line is unless your computer is starved of RAM other otherwise slow, you will gain faster responsiveness when using Internet applications.