Hey there,

Just need a little bit of advice.

I've purchased a VPS with KnownHost (which has been great so far).

I'm ready to purchase a domain, and I'd like this domain to become the name server too... I.E:

ns1.domain.com -> VPS IP.

I order to do this? Do I have to purchase the DNS Hosting for 'domain.com'? Or one I register it, I can assign it to an IP?

What is DNS hosting exactly?

you buy your domain, and you give it name servers to resolve all your records.

your registrar will probably provide you with said name servers or you can use 3rd party like freedns.afraid.org.

i would recommend not to run your own dns server(s) since it's extra overhead for basic dns when you can get something like freedns.afraid.org with 4 georedundant servers for free.

also, another reason to get 3rd party dns is it's really easy when you transfer your domain to another registrar, you don't have to recreate your records. (same thing applies when/if you move hosts)

btw, i use name.com mostly ;)

cheers.

you buy your domain, and you give it name servers to resolve all your records.

your registrar will probably provide you with said name servers or you can use 3rd party like freedns.afraid.org.

i would recommend not to run your own dns server(s) since it's extra overhead for basic dns when you can get something like freedns.afraid.org with 4 georedundant servers for free.

also, another reason to get 3rd party dns is it's really easy when you transfer your domain to another registrar, you don't have to recreate your records. (same thing applies when/if you move hosts)

btw, i use name.com mostly ;)

cheers.

Thanks for the reply.

So, Currently Im in WHM Networking Setup >> Nameserver IPs

What is listed is:

207.7.86.xxx ns1.mydomain.com
207.7.87.xxx ns2.mydomain.com

So when I goto my registrar.. Do I put in those details? Or a 3rd party name server?

you buy your domain, and you give it name servers to resolve all your records.

your registrar will probably provide you with said name servers or you can use 3rd party like freedns.afraid.org.

i would recommend not to run your own dns server(s) since it's extra overhead for basic dns when you can get something like freedns.afraid.org with 4 georedundant servers for free.

also, another reason to get 3rd party dns is it's really easy when you transfer your domain to another registrar, you don't have to recreate your records. (same thing applies when/if you move hosts)

btw, i use name.com mostly ;)

cheers.

Also does freedns.afraid.org provide MX?

ok let's break it down to steps.

1. register your domain. (do this right away, right now if you havn't done already)

2. after you register in step 1, you can login to your account and specify nameservers. if you use name.com like i suggested, they do offer nameservers (your domain will have their nameservers by default).

3. you may decide to use their nameservers or listen to my advise and use 3rd party dns for the reasons listed in my previous post. so in your account where you bought the domain, put the right nameservers.

4. now, you need to setup your records. "A records" to make your domain and subdomains point to IP's, and "MX records" for email. (this part is done in the control panel where you decide to host your dns, so either at the same place where you registered your domain if you choose their dns services or at the 3rd party site like freedns.afraid.org.

are you following?

Also does freedns.afraid.org provide MX?

you can set any type of records there (including web forwarding, which other services charge for)

but they don't offer mail services. for that, i recommend google.. http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html

if you go with my advise, then you'll end up putting google's MX records under your domain in afraid.org

btw, i also recommend 3rd party mail services because let's face it, it's better than your average setup + you get 4-5 mx records which translates to redundancy. also, if your host is down, at least your still get email since you've hosted your dns and mail with 3rd party :D

I think this explains pretty good what DNS is and how it works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System

ok let's break it down to steps.

1. register your domain. (do this right away, right now if you havn't done already)

2. after you register in step 1, you can login to your account and specify nameservers. if you use name.com like i suggested, they do offer nameservers (your domain will have their nameservers by default).

3. you may decide to use their nameservers or listen to my advise and use 3rd party dns for the reasons listed in my previous post. so in your account where you bought the domain, put the right nameservers.

4. now, you need to setup your records. "A records" to make your domain and subdomains point to IP's, and "MX records" for email. (this part is done in the control panel where you decide to host your dns, so either at the same place where you registered your domain if you choose their dns services or at the 3rd party site like freedns.afraid.org.

are you following?


OK i managed to get it up.

My registrar (namecheap) has a free dns service with it's domains.

very handy.. i still haven't configed mail tho.