Re: [cobalt-users] Basic server name/ISP DNS questions

[Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Brandon Trussell wrote:

> 2) I now realize I could have named these boxes anything I wanted and
> created the same behavior...but does anyone know of any DRAWBACKS of using
> server names www, www2, etc.?

Lots of companies do it this way, but technically, "www" is a "service"
name (it stands for world-wide-web, of course <smile>), not a machine
name.

My machines have names totally independent of the service names of the
services that run on them.

So, for example, www.domain1.com through www.domain250.com could run on
adam.nobaloney.net, and www.domain251.com through www.domain300.com
could run on baker.nobaloney.net.

> 3) I will run primary DNS on machine 1, secondary on machine 2.

That's a good idea, though not as good as running the two nameservers on
different networks.

Most people run the primary DNS on the same machine that hosts the
domain.  I find this cumbersome and hard to deal with.  I do it the way
you do; all my primary on one system, all my secondary on the other.

> My colo provider put entries in *his* DNS for www.mydomain.com and
> www2.mydomain.com. I am sorry I don't know what type of entries these were
> (I bet you guys know though! Sorry, I haven't gotten to the DNS/BIND book
> yet....eventually!....) but should I have my provider change his DNS to
> reference my nameservers, or leave them as is, pointing to my server names
> www & www2?

Since you didn't say what "mydomain.com" is (why? are you afraid of us
<smile>?) I can't tell whose nameservers your domain points as. 
Ideally, once your servers are running nameserver entries for your
domain should point to your own servers and he should remove his
records.

If he's doing your dns, then he needs to do DNS for all your machines,
services, etc., that people need to reach.  At a minimum, we set up:

an A record for domain.com
an A record for www.domain.com
an A record for mail.domain.com
a CNAME record for pop.domain.com pointing to mail.domain.com
a CNAME record for www.domain.com pointing to www.domain.com
an MX record for domain.com pointing to mail.domain.com

That gives us flexibility to move services to different domains later
with the least amount of work.

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