Let's say you're host.com
You have:
ns1.host.com (some dedicated IP)
ns2.host.com (another dedicated IP)

which you're using as the domain host.com's nameservers.

Don't you need another nameserver to indicate the existence of ns1.host.com and ns2.host.com?
How can a domain use its own domain as the nameservers?:confused:

I don't know the technical answer...

but basically, you'd have to register your nameserver with your domain registrar. When you do that, you have to input the name (ns1.host.com) and its IP. :cartman:

Yes, you register you're nameservers from your domain registrar using 2 ips.

Ahh, yes. It all makes sense now. :)

Thanks for the quick answers aragon and mas3000!

Note:When you register nameservers it may take over a week

Roly: you read my mind. I was just going to ask that. :)
So even if my ISP sees the new nameservers after 24 hours, it's not safe to start using them until a week later when I'm sure it's propagated across the net?

Its a long story but to make it short here is how it works.

its layed out for you :cartman:

It all depends at what type you make your takes. But most of the time it takes about 24 hours. generally the max is 24 to 48 hours so that the name servers will propagate globally.

WCSWEB - thanks for the graphical diagram. Very helpful!

How does virtual hosting on 1 shared IP work? (short, simplified version is OK!)
If the user's machine requests the IP, how's the server supposed to know which domain the user wants? Is additional info sent along with the IP request to indicate that domain1.com is wanted?

Originally posted by kreativ
Roly: you read my mind. I was just going to ask that. :)
So even if my ISP sees the new nameservers after 24 hours, it's not safe to start using them until a week later when I'm sure it's propagated across the net?
It'll proberbly take a week no matter what ISP because all ISPs use the Internic root servers and it takes about a week to be added to them:(

Originally posted by WCSWEB
Its a long story but to make it short here is how it works.

its layed out for you :cartman:

The diagram says that the request goes to the primary nameserver first and only goes to secondary nameserver if primary one can't find the name (bottom right of diagram). I thought i read on WHT that there is no such dominance of nameservers?

Double post (server real slow)

don't forget that you need IP per each domain name service record (ns5.name.com with Internic for example). Also remember that it should have A record and should not have CNAME record for example :>

1, you dont NEED an A record, but it makes life easier

2, you dont NEED to dedicate IP's just as nameservers (they dont need reverse delegation)

3, you CAN use the same IP for an unlimited amount of nameservers

4, a nameserver is a sticky record, so you cant just make an A record and make it work, they have to be made thru your registrar's control panel

5, initial delegation of a nameserver takes about 24 hours

6, re-delegation of a nameserver can take up to and over 72 hours

7, its a good idea to get a friend to act as your secondary nameserver on a different server (if you dont have two) for availability

Originally posted by apollo
don't forget that you need IP per each domain name service record (ns5.name.com with Internic for example). Also remember that it should have A record and should not have CNAME record for example :>

So in the DNS record for primarydomain.com, you should have:
primarydomain.com. NS ns1.primarydomain.com.
primarydomain.com. NS ns2.primarydomain.com.
ns1.primarydomain.com. A 10.1.1.1
ns2.primarydomain.com. A 10.1.1.2

Is that right?
I think I've got it now. :D

(Why are these records needed? If ns1.mydomain.com and the IP are already registered with the registrar, isn't that all that's needed? I assume people are just querying the IP for DNS data).

"How does virtual hosting on 1 shared IP work?"

Here is the short, non technical reply:

When you browser sends a request for a web page to the web server, it passes the domain name in the request as part of the HTTP protocol header. The web server uses that information to find what website you want to see.

As you understand, if that information wasn't passed with the request, you would need a dedicated IP for each websites.

This information is also used to see what host you want to see (the www or other, before the domain name)