Question Nameserver configuration

[Paul Creedy]

Hi

I've been reading various articles on this and entries in the forum but unfortunately I'm either not understanding this correctly or have done something wrong.

I have plesk onyx on a Linux machine in azure.

I'm trying to set up a private nameservers to add to my other domains instead of configuring each dns entry separately. If I do add individual a records pointing to the server for a domain, the website works fine.

I've registered a domain name with godaddy, and followed their instructions to create nameservers pointing ns1.p1-datecentre.co.uk and ns2.p1-datacentre.co.uk to the ip address 51.141.53.62 of the plesk server.

Add my own host names as nameservers | Domains - GoDaddy Help GB

I've added the p1-datecentre.co.uk domain name to plesk.

I've then changed the nameserver on a different domain paulcreedy.info as a test to the new nameservers, and added that domain to plesk also.

I cannot get paulcreedy.info domain to work as it says it cannot find any nameservers.

Could someone point me in the direction of what I may have missed?

 

[MarkM]

The nameservers are not resolving;

Marks-MacBook-Pro:~ MarkyMark$ nslookup ns1.p1-datecentre.co.uk
Server:        4.2.2.1
Address:    4.2.2.1#53

** server can't find ns1.p1-datecentre.co.uk: NXDOMAIN

Marks-MacBook-Pro:~ MarkyMark$ nslookup ns2.p1-datecentre.co.uk
Server:        4.2.2.1
Address:    4.2.2.1#53

** server can't find ns2.p1-datecentre.co.uk: NXDOMAIN

Marks-MacBook-Pro:~ MarkyMark$

You want to make sure you register them at the registrar as well as add the DNS records for ns1 and ns2 on your server as well.

 

[Paul Creedy]

Hi Mark

Thank you for taking the time to answer.

That's the same result that I'm getting which I didn't understand. As far as I could tell I've correctly followed the instructions on godaddy about creating own nameservers, which I've done. See attachment screenshot. Which led me to conclude there is a step I've missed somewhere, or something that just isn't working as it should.

I've just tried something random, and that's to set the nameservers on p1-datacentre.co.uk to it's own NS records of ns1.datacentre.co.uk which I would have though to be incorrect. However that 'seems' to have fixed it. Not sure if I've done this correctly though!

 

[Émerson Felinto]

Really, you made a mistake! =)

I do not know Godaddy's interface, but try to find the option to "Use Godaddy's name servers". Then search for something like "Manage DNS" or "Advanced DNS." There you can create your own DNS entries. Create two A records with the following information:

ns1.yourdomain.com >>> Primary IP of your server
ns2.yourdomain.com >>> Secondary IP of your server (or primary if you do not have one)

I hope my explanation has been clear

Maybe this can be useful for you >>> Access the DNS Manager | Домены - Справка GoDaddy RU

 

[Paul Creedy]

Now that I have this working there appears to be two ways of doing this. Please correct me if I am wrong to as not to give the incorrect information to anyone else reading this post.

1. using glue records/host names at the top level registrar
2. using A records at the domain name registrar

Method 1
The correct way appears to be finding a registrar that allows true glue records/creating vanity nameservers. GoDaddy has this facility under host headers.
1. Register a domain name
2. Create host name entries/glue records Add my own host names as nameservers | Domains - GoDaddy Help GB
3. (the part tutorials seem to miss out) change the nameservers on THAT domain to your glue record nameservers.

Example
Register mydomain.com
Create hostnames/glue records (NOT A records) ns1.mydomain.com -> ip address and ns2.mydomain -> ip address. This allows .com to have your nameservers registered directly to the IP address, and thus avoid circular dns lookups.
Change name servers on mydomain.com to ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com It's the glue records that stop the circular references

Method 2
Used when you registrar does not have the facility for hostname/glue records.
Register mydomain.com
Add two A records, ns1.mydomain.com -> ip address and ns2.mydomain -> ip address, to create your 'fake' nameservers. Fake because whilst these A records will work, they are not valid nameservers of type NS, they are A records. NS records are registered at the .com level not the mydomain.com level where A records are recorded.

Both methods work, but method two will give you an amber error on checking domain health about "Not being or finding a start of authority at the registar", or some similar error.

I've now gone with method 1, unless I find out that isn't the correct way.

 

[Émerson Felinto]

OK, let's go. Maybe there is more than one way to solve your problem and I really do not want to get into the merits of which is the most appropriate in your case, the important thing is to work.

Regarding method 1 I personally have never done this setup and can not comment on.

About Method 2:

Add two A records, ns1.mydomain.com -> ip address and ns2.mydomain -> ip address, to create your 'fake' nameservers. Fake because whilst these A records will work, they are not valid nameservers of type NS, they are A records. NS records are registered at the .com level not the mydomain.com level where A records are recorded.

I've been using this setup for several years and never had a problem. Where did you get this information? I really did not get it.

Not being or finding a start of authority at the registar"

In other words Godaddy's servers have checked to see if this IP "says" that their domain is hosted with them. Unfortunately some names registrars put this protection that I find unnecessary.

Method 3: Use the Cloudflare servers

I am currently using the Cloudflare servers. It's pretty easy, come on. The domain of my hosting is "example.com" and my clients point their nameservers to "ns1.example.com" and "ns2.example.com" just like you

When you create a Cloudflare account you get a pair of nameservers where you should point to the domain "example.com". Do it. With the propagated DNS, go there in the Cloudflare editor and add the two A records to ns1 and ns2, as I said earlier. Here's how my DNS is configured:



All done! This is the way I currently use it and have never had problems. An additional advantage is that the cloudflare TTL is very low (5min to be exact) so I can change servers easily by changing IP. Nice

Please tell me if it worked for you and give me any additional feedback so I can help you find the right solution. "Likes" in my answers are a way of retribution

 

[Paul Creedy]

Hi Emerson

Thanks for pointing out the cloud flare option. I may look at that at a future step as an option as I proceed further with configuration and try out Plesk.

I'm using option 1, at the moment and it seems to work. To check the health of the DNS I use mxtoolbox, which I've found very accurate when testing anything to do with dns. I'm used to manually configuring Windows servers, so Plesk and Linux is very new to me.

When I went with the A record option (method 2) it gave me an amber warning on the DNS, but from the many articles I've been reading lately it's still a popular and acceptable way of setting this up.

My test set up is a Linux VM in Microsoft Azure as I'm familiar with Azure, but very new to Plesk so I'm trying it out to see if it suits my needs.

 

[Émerson Felinto]

Glad it worked. Feel free to update this post if anything does not work as planned