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Re: [cobalt-users] Newbie DNS ? for own network

OK, this isn't sinking in too well. Some more questions if you don't mind horribly: (Plus I'll keep on reading up..) 

Paul Warner wrote:


#  RAQ's resolver is configed through edits to /etc/resolv.conf.  These
  are the IP addresses of DNS servers YOUR MACHINE will use to
  resolve names into IP addresses.
This file I probably shouldn't touch? as it is changed by the Cobalt UI dns entries? 


#  DNS records to point the outside world TO YOUR MACHINE can
be left on register.com or moved to your RAQ. 
#  Assuming you leave them on register.com you need an 'A' record
  that points to the static IP from your cable co.  you may want to
  define as shown below to resolve the domain w/o a www to the
  same server (1st record).
  nomecity.org.       in      a      xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
  www.nomecity.org.       in      a      xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
  mail.nomecity.org.       in      a      xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
I believe I have the DNS records on register.com to point to our static IP address as you've shown. I haven't found 'A' records per se on register.com. They have a dialog for adding or 'Change IP' where you can add a domain name to point to a specific IP address. This I have just corrected to add mail.nomecity.org in to point to our static. I'll assume these are 'A' records. I had that under Domain Aliases previously, and that must actually have been the CNAMEs that Dan K. had found. So I deleted those. 



#  Next you need to define who handles mail for your domain with an
  MX record:
  nomecity.org.       in      mx      30 mail.nomecity.org.
  all mail for nomecity.org will be delivered to mail.nomecity.org.  The
  30 is a preference value that can be used if you have multiple
servers to handle mail.
On the register.com site, when editing a MX record, you are given host name, priority, and mail server entry boxes. I have nomecity.org in the host name, (should I include the .org?), I have priority as 'hi', and mail server as mail.nomecity.org. 



#  Finally, you will need to do some GUI stuff on your RAQ.  First, go
  to the SiteAdmin -> ControlPanel -> Email and then make sure
  that the addresses (IP and names) for 'Relay for following...' has
  all IPs or host/domain names that will be SENDING via your server.
  If you spec too broad, then every spammer on your cable provider's
  net will be able to use your server to send.
Here I could use some more clarification. I have IP addresses for our internal lan listed in the form of say 192.168.1.0. Rather than listing each client computer's ip address. Is this proper? We use DHCP. When we send an email, we are actually using smtp.gci.net (the cable company) as the smtp server. Looking in my maillog, I see that gci.net fails to resolve, so I'm thinking I need to add it here, under relaying. But how would I do that and prevent everyone on the gci network from using me as a relay? 



#  Next, make sure that www.nomecity.org, nomecity.com, and
  mail.nomecity.org are all listed in 'Host/Domain Aliases'.
Here I'm having a problem so I must have something misconfigured. I cannot get mail.nomecity.org to stick after entering it. I hit save changes, and when I go back to see if it took, it is gone. Won't save. Any ideas what to do to rectify? 



#  Lastly, go to the SiteAdmin and check SiteSettings to ensure that
  www is 'Host Name', nomecity.org is 'Domain Name' and 'Web
  Server Aliases', and mail.nomecity.org is 'Email Server Aliases'.

Done.


The changes on register.com can take as long as 48-hours to
propogate to the world (yourself included).  If you want to setup DNS
on the RAQ for INTERNAL use to reflect local hosts behind firewall,
you can treat the server as PRIMARY for nomecity.org and post
hostname/IP pairs of firewalled devices.  This will provide users with
a local DNS server.  Users will use this devices IP as their default
resolver.  If you ARE NOT, then disable DNS on the RAQ as you
won't be using it.

Clear as mud?
About as clear as mud to me, though I'm sure it will be crystal clear when I finally have that 'DOH' moment. I have this other raq set up as a primary dns server. It must have found nomecity.org on its own and added it as a master zone. I know not about zones. I did read some documentation on them but it failed to make much sense.. yet. So I just tried setting up this email raq to point to the other one for primary dns. That would all be internal. My confusion will be apparent with this question: Should I go into this other 'trusted' raq, call it green_raq, and set up A records and MX records on it as well to point to the 'dmz' email raq, call it red_raq? Maybe I'll muck around with that and think on it some more. I think I'm more a detail guy and my mind has a hard time wrapping around the larger picture. But I'll get it. eventually. 



I am also able to see the Nome Public Schools web page!  It looks like your
issue may be that your resolver on the RAQ is looking to itself for
direction
when it should be looking at your cable provider's DNS server (optimum
speed).
This this I don't get. I think the school's site is hosted on the cable co. gci. I just can't grasp what entry I should put in for Primary DNS Server (under Control Panel -> Network). As I've mentioned above, I have DNS enabled on this other 'green_raq' for the internal network. I'll play around with all this. 



Lemme know if I can clarify or help, but I'm in EDT and won't be up all
night!

-- Paul


Thanks and cheers,

--
Jim D.