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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    517

    Private nameservers vs anonymous DNS

    Hi,

    I am considering getting into providing reseller hosting. When I was looking at Site 5's reseller plans for some ideas, I came across the following:

    1. Private nameservers
    2. Anonymous DNS and server name


    Both sound the same to me, but probably they're not. Here is how Site5 defines the two:

    Anonymous DNS
    Anonymous DNS and Server Name

    To help ensure that your resellers don't find out that you're a reseller of Site5, we use an anonymous domain name for our reseller servers. For example, rather than naming a server "superman.site5.com" we would name it "superman.anonymousdomain.com" (we can't tell you the actual domain name here, since that would defeat the purpose!).

    This same domain is also used to provide anonymous DNS servers to all resellers, so that instead of telling your customers having to point their domain names to "dns.site5.com", they can point to "dns.anonymousdomain.com" (although reseller plans with private nameservers actually get their own nameserver addresses anyway). There is no mention of Site5 in the public WHOIS record or the HTTP address for this domain.
    Private Nameservers
    Private Nameservers (ns1/2.yourdomain.com)

    Instead of using our anonymous domain name for nameservers, private nameservers allow you to use your own domain name for your nameserver addressses ("ns1.yourdomain.com" and "ns2.yourdomain.com). This gives your company a more professional image and provides reassurance to customers. Site5 will configure the nameservers on our side and give you instructions for how to set everything up with your registrar.

    Resellers without private nameservers will point their domains to the anonymous nameservers associated with their account's server.
    Is there any difference between the two? I can understand the private nameservers thing easily enough, but not the anonymous DNS thing.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    522
    Their server name uses a different domain name than site5.com, thats the difference, when an automatic notification email comes out, it will come from that domain, and when people trace your Nameservers it will show server.anonymousdomain.com
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    6,884
    I hope it is clear now.

    They will, and almost all host will have an anonymous name as hostname for their server. So your customers won't see that you are hosted in a site5 server.
    Suppose the hostname for their server was server1.site5.com. Now even if you have private nameservers, if some one do a telnet to port 25 of that IP, it will show the hostname. There are more methods to see what is the hostname. But if the hostname is different, something like server1.anonymous.com. no one is going to find out who is the real host.
    iHubNet Ltd - Premium Hosting Solutions 4 ALL
    Solid Support Solid Equipment Solid Network
    Shared Hosting / Reseller Hosting / Managed Server
    Matt A.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    517
    Thank you, Matt and Annex. That makes things clear.

    Is it possible for anyone to do the same thing? I have a VPS that points to host.mydomain.com. The resellers' account would be on this VPS. How would I go about providing anonymous DNS to my reseller?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Ft. Lauderdale, FL
    Posts
    196
    Hello, what we did was register domains under proxy with GoDaddy this hides all whois info for your domain name. Just private register a domain that is separate from your company domain and set that as the name servers domain you offer to your resellers.

    Also with most panels these days when a reseller signs up they have the option to private label their NS. The way this works is the system create server aliases for all servers including the name servers. We use H-Sphere and it does this very well and allows all reseller to have their own name servers and not use ours even though we have ours privately registered. and do not use our company name. This allows for your reseller to have 2 options with little work on their end.

    Also if you want to do this on a vps setup named on the vps box and create your anonymous name servers.

    Hope this help!
    Jason T. Dickman - Senior Server Tech
    Cloud Based Solutions, VPS, Linux, Windows, Dedicated
    Our Internet - Your Complete Web Hosting Solution

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