Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Dedicated Server : RaQ 550 - DNS setup confirmation

[spifster]

I just got a new cobalt RaQ 550, did quite a bit of research on how to setup the DNS records but alot of the info is failry different from what you can setup on the cobalt admin. So I still have a few questions about the DNS setup and wondering if you guys could double check if the settings seem ok.

I have the following domains for the following purposes:
domain.net - I use this one as our dns server and account that holds our internal webapplications (behind a http login ).
domain.com - This domain is the domain the public sees as our company website.
domain.org - Forwards to our domain.com address

The cobalt has been assigned 8 IP addresses of which I am only going to use 2 initially:
IP1 - for everything except the secondary name server
IP2 - only for the secondary nameserver

So I have these domains registered at namecheap and have setup the dns settings as follows:
domain.net - uses the namecheap dns servers, in the settings for namecheap the IP address of our cobalt has been filled in
domain.com - uses custom dns servers: ns1.domain.net and ns2.domain.net
domain.org - uses custom dns servers: ns1.domain.net and ns2.domain.net

The cobalt has been setup as follows in the DNS server settings:
ns1.domain.net - Forward -> IP1
ns2.domain.net - Forward -> IP2
domain.net - Forward -> IP1
ftp.domain.net - Forward -> IP1
www.domain.net - Forward -> IP1
domain.net - Mail Highest -> mail.domain.net
IP1/255.255.255.0 - Reverse -> www.domain.net

domain.com - Forward -> IP1
ftp.domain.com - Forward -> IP1
www.domain.com - Forward -> IP1
domain.com - Mail Highest -> mail.domain.com

domain.org - Forward -> IP1
www.domain.org - Forward -> IP1
domain.org - Mail Highest -> mail.domain.com

There are 2 virtual sites:
www.domain.net - Hosts the internal webapplications
www.domain.com - Hosts the our company website

In the settings for both virtual sites I have disabled Automatic DNS Configuration.

For domain.com I have added to the webserver aliases the domain.org and www.domain.org names and to it's email servers mail.domain.org and domain.org to catch any http and mail requests.

So somebody requesting the site www.domain.org will get the exact same if he requests www.domain.com (as would domain.org and domain.com)


I hope this makes sense and is clear enoug for you to judge it's correctness. Let me know if you guys have any suggestions. I think a simple overview like this would help many beginning users like myself if this is correct so at least it will save others a heap of time.


thx.
spif

[atjeu]

maybe foward all of the mail to just one of the sites.. thats the only suggestion we have.

[spifster]

You mean changing these lines:
domain.com - Mail Highest -> mail.domain.com
domain.org - Mail Highest -> mail.domain.com

for example into:
domain.com - Mail Highest -> mail.domain.net
domain.org - Mail Highest -> mail.domain.net

Yeah, I see what you mean. Thx.

Another thing I was wondering was if I can change the nameservers on ns1.domain.net to move away from the namecheap dns servers? That would mean they would point to itself to find itself? Doesn't really make sense if it's possible...? Or do I have to use the namecheap servers indefinetely for that domain. Obviously all the other domains can just use ns1.domain.net but was just wondering about the domain.net's own nameserver.


thx again for help.

[atjeu]

yes, that is correct.

yes, you can use your own - they "find themselves" because the dns hostname like ns1.yourdomain.com resolves to the ip at the tld's (its called glue) - that part is handled for you.

[spifster]

the ip at the tld's?

How come becuase nowhere in namecheap's system does it have the IP address for the server (after I switch to our own ns server), only in the server itself does the ns1.yourdomain.net point to itself. But how does a domain name lookup query then reach the server if it does not know the IP?

Is it because of the distributed nature of the DNS servers? So in other words when I switch away from using namecheap as DNS server all the servers around the world already know where to look and remember that?

Also I haven't done anything with the Start of Authority (SOA) settings, should I use that?

[edit: I just found out the setup isn't working -> www.domain.net forwards to www.domain.org and then there's a host not found.... very strange.]

[spifster]

The setup lined out above is not working.

When I ping my domain is shows a completely incorrect IP address. Not the old IP neither is it the new IP of our new Cobalt. Is this an incorrect setting in the Registrar settings (NameCheap?)

The strange thing is that the domain www.mydomain.com which is supposed to forward to www.mydomain.net is actually doing the reverse!! www.mydomain.net is forwarding to www.mydomain.com !!

I am puzzled. We've set the DNS server for www.mydomain.net to use the namecheap servers and www.mydomain.com to use the ns1.mydomain.net and ns2.mydomain.net nameserver... ahhhhhh.

Not making sense.

[spifster]

OK, I removed the NameCheap DNS servers and added our own, the one setup on ns1.domain.net which when we ping it shows our new cobalt IP.

That fixed the forwarding issue so now www.domain.com is forwarding to www.domain.net but then the domain.net stalls and cannot be found: UNKOWN HOST.

So the DNS settings on the cobalt thus seem wrong... but it's the same setup I used above, that you guys (at least atjue ) said was good. So wondering what I'm I still doing wrong.... What do I need to do to get my www.domain.net working...? Add records, remove the ns1 and ns2 records? Anything else that is incorrect in the above settings (in my first post)?

Or is there some kind of setting i need to add to the System settings>TCP/IP dns servers? Right now I have some DNS servers my reseller and bandwidth provider gave me.

Please help me out, as I really need this server going this week. Since the DNS takes about 2 days to refresh means I can only gfet this worng once more.... Thanx for your help

[spifster]

OK ALL IS WORKING!!
All I had to do is wait.

It seems like sometimes the time for DNS settings to go through are more than I thought, sometimes less. I know they take 12 -48 hours but usually mine take only 10 hours.

Guess this time round I'll be more patient.