Re: [cobalt-users] DNS solutions for a single Raq (was Re: Newbies thoughts 'How tomake it better'.)

[Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Evan Zebrovsky wrote:

> Are you sure your secondary DNS server actually works? I mean , my sites are
> working perfect , WITHOUT the secondary DNS record.When I try to add a
> Secondary Name Server for any domain , It comes up with an error : Domain
> "mydomain.com" already defined.

Which is as it should be.  To use your RaQ for both primary and
secondary hosting, you do NOT create a secondary record.  You just
create primary record and point to the RaQ with two nameserver records,
each with it's own IP#.

> I referred to the knowledge base , and
> Happily found a silimar question , which somebody had after installing the
> new patch on his RAQ2...I contacted cobalt and they said that since that
> revision , you can not have both Prim/Secon DNS servers on ONE cobalt (New
> cobalts only)- (I have a RAQ3 with 96 IPs).

Somebody, maybe at Cobalt, doesn't understand the terms "primary",
"secondary", "master" and "slave".

Think of it this way:  If you've got a server on which you put the zone
file records yourself, that's your "master" nameserver.  If you use the
Cobalt gui to install a "secondary nameserver", and do NOT have the zone
file records on this particular RaQ, that's your "slave" nameserver (the
terms "primary", "secondary", "master" and "slave" are quite misused).

Putting in the "secondary nameserver" record onto your RaQ just tells
your RaQ to look for the "master" records somewhere else.  So it
shouldn't work if you've already got the zone file set up on your RaQ.

You've already set up "master" records on your RaQ, right?  So you've
got several choices.  You can make arrangements with someone else to act
as your "slave" and read your records; if they've got a RaQ, too, they
can set it up through their own gui.  You can exchange services with
someone, or you can buy commercial DNS "secondary" or "slave" services
from us or plenty of other vendors, or use a free service you can find
on the 'net (not recommended; see my previous post today).  Or you can
just tell your registrar (the one who registered your domain) to
register another nameserver (ns2.domain.com?) on another IP# which
points to your RaQ, and read it twice.

So what do the terms "primary" and "secondary" nameserver really mean?

Simply, the order in which DNS will look for your DNS records.  You can
list (again, with your registrar) any nameserver that's authoritative
for your domain as your "primary", and any other nameserver that's
authoritative for your domain, or just a different IP# pointing to the
same authoritative nameserver as you use for "primary", as your
"secondary".

So what happens is when a browser looks up your domain, his system will
first try to resolve your name looking at what's listed as your
"primary" server, and then, if it can't find your primary nameserver
(perhaps you've got a system down, or a bad connection, or your
nameserver is just too busy to respond), it'll query any secondaries
you've got, until it either finds your IP# or runs out of secondaries
and returns an error.

So the last question is "what does 'authoritative' mean?":

It means that your nameserver is either a master or a slave for the
domain in question.

It's really not complex; it just needs to be properly taught.  Since we
sell DNS services, maybe I shouldn't be teaching; just selling <wry
grin>.

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
nobaloney.net
P. O. Box 52672
Riverside, CA  92517
voice: (909) 787-8589  *  fax: (909) 782-0205