Creating Private Nameservers

[Ross M]

Hello, I was just wondering how to set up custom nameservers. I read another topic in the Windows forum, but I'd like to double check what I'm doing.

And under my server DNS I have:
(host) (record type) (value)
<domain>. NS ns1.mydomain.net.
<domain>. NS ns2.mydomain.net.
ns1.mydomain.net. A 64.xxx.xxx.136
ns2.mydomain.net. A 64.xxx.xxx.186

Is this going to be set up correctly, or have I missed a step? I also read somewhere that you have to remove the type PTR entry with the host <ip> / 24 in order to create custom nameservers. Is this correct?

Thank you,
Ross

 

[faris]

It kind of depends what exactly you are doing.

Lets start from the start:

To create a nameserver you first need to create host records for the domain via your domain name registrar. Exactly how you'd do this depends on the registrar but basically you say create ns1.domain.com and ns2.domain.com and you give the ip addresses of your nameservers here.

Then you go to your Plesk panel and set the rest up there.

For the dns records for domain.com you create A records pointing ns1.domain.com and ns2.domain.com to the IP addresses where your namservers are.

You would normally also specify that the namservers for domain.com are ns1.domain.com and ns2.domain.com using NS records.

Then for the default DNS template in plesk which is applied to all new domain you would just have:

<domain>. NS ns1.mydomain.net.
<domain>. NS ns2.mydomain.net.

You do not need the
ns1.mydomain.net. A 64.xxx.xxx.136
ns2.mydomain.net. A 64.xxx.xxx.186
(this is in the template remember. You would need these in the real DNS record for domain.com) (you do also still need the webmail, ftp etc stuff that is in the template by default of course. You may want to change the CNAME for mail.domain.com into an A record but that's not really important)

It is correct that you should remove the PTR record that is in there by default in the plesk domain template. You only want one PTR and that should be for your "main" domain and only in the dns records for your "main" domain. Normally we'd be talking about a domain that has the same name as the hostname of the server. Mind you I am not very clear what point there is of having a PTR in the DNS at all since I can't figure out what would use your DNS server to do a lookup on your IP. Normally reverse DNS records are configured by whoever owns the IPs that are allocated to your server. Your ISP/CoLoCo or whatever. But I'll bet I'm missing some interesting info here so maybe someone will pipe up on that front.

Faris.

 

[Ross M]

I'm kind of confused on this part:

To create a nameserver you first need to create host records for the domain via your domain name registrar. Exactly how you'd do this depends on the registrar but basically you say create ns1.domain.com and ns2.domain.com and you give the ip addresses of your nameservers here.

What exactly do I have to ask them to do? Just create the host records with the IPs I want for the nameservers?

 

[faris]

There's usually a button or something in the control panel for your domain that allows you to create them.

It might be "create namesever" or "create nameserver host record", or "create domain hosts" something similar.

But if not then yes, "I wish to use my domain for namesevers. Please can you create a nameserver host record ns1.domain.com pointing to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and ns2.domain.com pointing to yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy" or something like that I suppose.

Faris.

 

[Ross M]

Yes, that's what I said in the email. I'm waiting for a response now.

Thanks for your help. I'll follow the Plesk part of your tutorial later.

 

[Ross M]

Okay, when adding records, which type should they be? I have options: A, MX, CNAME, TXT. Or should I modify NS? This is for the the first step with my host.

 

[faris]

I think it should be none of the above. They may have misunderstood your request. The A, MX, NS etc records are what you get in a normal DNS zone file (i.e. the one that Plesk actually handles for domains hosted on your server but which some registrars also allow you to play with if the domain uses their namservers instead of your own namservers).

So you don't want to be playing with any records like that at the registrar end. The creation of a domain host does not involve NS, A, MX etc records (well it does sort of but not in a way where you would specify them). You simply specify the ns1/ns2/whatever bit, and the related IP address. If you are being given a choice then you are in the wrong bit of the registrar's control panel.

Try doing a google search for "create nameserver domain XXXX" where XXX = your registrar.

Faris.

 

[Ross M]

I'm using MediaTemple, and when I asked about pointing the domains to the IP's, they told me I can edit them myself under the Zones for the domain.

 

[faris]

Yes, it sounds like they think you just want to edit the DNS records for your domain - which you don't.

Alternatively they may mean that you create namservers from the same part of the control panel where you edit the DNS records for your domain.

I've had a look through their knowledgebase and can find no mention of any way to create namservers.

Try contacting support again. Explain you don't want to edit the DNS records. You want to CREATE nameserver host records.

 

[Ross M]

Yes, once I said that they figured out that I was running a virtual dedicated server, not a shared.

I followed the tutorial, and everything is working as planned!! Thank you!

 

[faris]

I am delighted. That's excellent news. It is nice to be able to help out occasionally.