New To DNS

ok i am very new to dns, webserver, mail server world. i currently have a webserver up. i would like to get a mail server and DNS server up. i am running Windows 2000 Server. i have 2 domains. basically i just need some help getting the DNS server up. if u need more info let me know

Here's my recommendation

BIND 9.2.3 DNS server for Win32
ftp://ftp.isc.org/isc/bind/contrib/...3/BIND9.2.3.zip

BIND configuration template
http://www.dollardns.net/bind/

that link for ftp doesnt work

nvm i got it, i dled it and installed it. now how do i create records and so on

Ok, here's my recommendations

Mail Server:

Check out mailenable.com, their standard mailserver is free and has all of the features that you need to get going. READ the help files before you get started, there are a lot of settings to prevent abuse, open relays, etc.

DNS:
This only creates a forward lookup zone and isn't 100% complient with whatever rules are out there. USUALLY, you're supposed to have two dns entries NOT in the same class C IP... meaning, your server may have two IPs but using those two for your two name servers isn't quite what the standards had in mind. HOWEVER, if your DNS is on the same server as your websites, then if one goes down their all down, so there's not a reason to be overly redundant!

Secondly, I have my asp scripts setup to create my file, then I import them... it's a LOT easier and it goes a long way to consistancy. In addition, when I moved from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003, there were some changes that bit others, but not me.

I've attached a sample DNS file. There are a few rules that you should know.
1. The file name is typically <yourdomain.com>.dns
2. When editing the file, make sure there is a period at the end, for example "mydomain.com" is listed in the dns file as "mydomain.com."
3. the email address DOES NOT HAVE THE @. instead yourname.yourdomain.com. <-- notice period at the end!
4. and change the IPs to point to your server not mine!

Once you ahve the file, story it in the windows\system32\dns folder, then use the DNS mmc to start a new zone then select from a file! once you do a couple of them, it will start to make sense.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Gary Lantz

galantz, i kinda understand so far, i am forced to use port 9090 due to my isp blocking port 80. do you have aim, icq, or irc ?

Must've been a bug in the board that it cut off my URL like that. I've fixed it.

"This only creates a forward lookup zone and isn't 100% complient with whatever rules are out there."

oh my goodness, are you picking on my example config? Why? It's just an example, not meant to be the authoritative standard. It was designed for the intuitive newbie to understand what it means and how to manipulate it.

"USUALLY, you're supposed to have two dns entries NOT in the same class C IP"

Are you picking on my 127.0.0.1 and 127.0.0.2? What evil have I done to deserve this nit picking? Besides, if we're sticking to standards, you should have more than 2 domain hosts.

"1. The file name is typically <yourdomain.com>.dns"

This is a moot point. People can choose whatever names they want. Other common extensions are "none", hosts, and db.

huh? I was responding to vinny03 because he asked me to, to be honest, I never even went to your links nor do I care. Someone new to DNS asked an honest question, I tried to put my thoughts down the best I can.

But because I've had a beer and I'm feeling a bit froggy, I'll respond with a rebuttal!

1. Yes, MY EXAMPLE is for a forward lookup zone only... to be 100% complient with most with the RFC standards, one should have a reverse lookup, however, due to the increase in "virtual" domains and more than one domain residing on the same IP address via host headers, the revers DNS lookup has become an antiquated rule!

2. All of your nameservers (listed at the parent nameservers) should not be in the same Class C (technically, /24) address space, which means that they are probably at the same physical location. Your nameservers should be at geographically dispersed locations. You should not have all of your nameservers at the same location. RFC2182 3.1 goes into more detail about secondary nameserver location.

3. I told him what the file names are typically because if he uses the DNS MMC and followed through the primary zone wizard, the file name would be <yourdomain.com>.dns. I wanted him to be aware of this so that he would understand what those other files where and why they were named that way! By default a .dns file does not have a program associated with it. With this small bit of knowledge that I passed along, he should know that he can open and edit these files with notepad BUT I neglected to say that if he does modify them with notepad, he should go back into the DNS mmc and select "RELOAD" by right clicking the parent domain. Also, I noticed you pointed to BIND as the DNS software. Since his WIndows 200 already comes with a DNS server, I offered a solution to his existing software...

Anyways, I love people who flame on forums... I hope there's no offense taken or given... but I felt personally attacked at your comments when your name wasn't even a thought in my head.

FYI, for others reading this, a good start to know if your DNS files are configured properly is to check out http://www.dnsreport.com, in addition there are a lot of handy tools at http://www.dnsstuff.com.

Good luck and yes, I have ICQ although I rarely use it. I sent my personal email address in the private messenger on this forum... use it if you need it vinny03!

Take care,

Gary Lantz

galantz, I was asking whether you were picking on my config file. I also asked if you were picking on my 127.0.0.1 and such. You could've just said no and both of our pride's would've been clear. I now know that you were talking about your own config example.

Since you said you did not see my example, and since you say you're drunk. I chose not to read the rest of your post. Just to save us an argument.



I'll provide URL forwarding for you. I don't advertise it on my site, but it's free. All it requires is that your domain points to my website IP, and it'll redirect clients to your non standard port.

It would be helpful if there was also a domain that points to your IP, so that I don't have to redirect clients directly to your IP. It would also be easier on you if you used DollarDNS for your domain hosting since I'll set everything up for ya.

ok thank you both, heres my problem i did the config file as follows:
@ IN SOA x1.tauruscomputers.net. vinny.tauruscomputers.net. (
2003082115 ; serial number
900 ; refresh
600 ; retry
1209600 ; expire
3600 ) ; minimum TTL

;
; Zone NS records
;

@ NS ns1.tauruscomputers.net.
ns1.tauruscomputers.net. A 67.83.193.45
@ NS ns2.tauruscomputers.net.
ns2.tauruscomputers.net. A 67.83.193.45

;
; Zone records
;

@ A 67.83.193.45
@ MX 10 mail.tauruscomputers.net.
@ MX 15 mail.tauruscomputers.net.
mail A 67.83.193.45
mailadmin A 67.83.193.45
www A 67.83.193.45

now where do i put that

Would it be suggested that I use Bind on my windows 2k adv server then instead of the MS DNS server?

I was looking to find how to setup that properly but if BIND would be easier than I'll go for that because I also hope in the future to setup some linux boxes and they would use BIND naturally.

Well I always recommend using BIND. And if you go for BIND, then I'll be able to help you configure it. No sweat.

I'll have to do that then because one of my customers just bought a domain. I was thinkin of buying myself one as well since they are so cheap over at godaddy.com which i also see might be a little difficult to setup

Usually there are two Nameservers, for redundancy i suppose, is that a requirement or would it be alright if both entries for the domain were the same DNS server? I only have one IP at the moment

Godaddy doesn't support only 1 IP for 2 names servers. Here are your options.

1) Don't register with godaddy
2) Host your domain with somebody else.
3) Host your domain yourself and setup a slave with somebody else.

So i would have to possible setup a slave BIND server on a friends computer to obtain a second IP address.

I could save myself the trouble with registering with them but I have someone who is already registered there so i would need to get that setup for him.

Setting up BIND on my friends machine wouldnt require any management to be done on it, I