The Laughing Cow
03-01-2002, 02:54 PM
I have been trying to understand how all this DNS malarky works.
When I was new I was told that DNS servers were big servers which your ISP has which maps a domain to an IP. Thats fair enough I get it all.
Now I don't understand this comparison to running DNS on your webservers and having your own nameservers.
It's all just confused me and I don't see what nameservers actually are :S
driverdave
03-01-2002, 03:04 PM
http://www.acmebw.com/askmrdns/
Check it.
Also, Orielly (sp?) books are good. Get the one on BIND.
bobcares
03-01-2002, 07:42 PM
Hi!
Name servers are like what you mentioned ---- Servers which map domains to IP and vice-versa.
On basic linux systems here's how. Have bind installed.
Modify your /etc/named.conf.
Here you specify your directory where all zone files are kept.
Then you define the zones and the files that have the information about it....
The zone files have the domain -IP mapping defined and the reverse is defined too....
Of this there is a file called named.ca which has a list of name servers over the net...
There is a very elementry question that I ask when taking interviews.....
"What happens when you type http://www.domainname.com on your browser"
So a chap who knows all about name servers knows the process - Look for zones in your name server, if not look at higher level name servers and so on..... Also, keep in mind the file resolve.conf...
Have a great day :)
regards
amar
MotleyFool
03-02-2002, 12:29 AM
Better still get djbdns and your life will be happy [if you are going to manage DNS] -if you want to know what is DNS and what is nameserver well there are many places to look and all quite adequate - google.com -> "introduction DNS"
I agree it can be quite confusing initially, but once you crack it half the trouble with hosting is over
Cheers
Balaji
bhalsted
03-02-2002, 12:44 AM
Found some info with a picture, they usually help me.
http://www.dnswiz.com/dnsworks.htm
;)
The Laughing Cow
03-02-2002, 08:17 AM
I see so putting it simply-
Do you have 'big' nameservers with like Internic/ISP's and what not and then hosting servers etc run DNS which maps all the domains on the server to IP's?
bhalsted
03-02-2002, 11:45 AM
Originally posted by The Laughing Cow
Do you have 'big' nameservers with like Internic/ISP's and what not and then hosting servers etc run DNS which maps all the domains on the server to IP's?
Yes, Basically you have the person surfing the web contact the ROOT name servers. They hold the info about which ISP/Hosting Company name server to contact. They then contact that name server and get the IP. After they have the IP they ask the web server for the web page and they're done!
bhalsted
03-02-2002, 11:47 AM
Yes, Basically you have the person surfing the web contact the ROOT name servers. They hold the info about which ISP/Hosting Company name server to contact. They then contact that name server and get the IP. After they have the IP they ask the web server for the web page and they're done!
The Laughing Cow
03-02-2002, 12:16 PM
So what would your ISP have? Root NS or like intermediate ones?
