Website hosting/domain name problem

Nightslyr

So we're building a new site at work and want to host it on our own server. Our partner is using an old domain name that they registered about a year ago. The problem is that the domain want's a name server to point to, which we don't have. Any ideas on how to get the domain to point to our server? Just using our IP address doesn't work.

Djeet

(1) 3rd party DNS hosting/parking. You may be able to purchase this from the registrar that provides the domain name for your partner. There is also dyndns.org (i think this used to be/may still be free, I've never used it so I don't know for sure).

(2) Your ISP may host your DNS zone, this is dependent upon your contract/relationship with your ISP.

(3) Host your own DNS, you could install a DNS server on the same machine as the webserver you're setting up if you want. Or host DNS services on a separate server.

Option 3 gives you the most amount of control over your DNS records.

In option 2 and 3 you still need to register the name servers with your (or your partners) registrar. e.g. if you're trying to serve www.companyname.com yourself, and so you host your own dns at ns1.companyname.com, then you must go to your registrar and for your domain name put ns1.companyname.com as the name server responsible for the companyname.com domain.

http://dnsstuff.com/ can help you determine if your dns infrastructure is setup properly.

Nightslyr

UPDATE: Well, we're still trying to set up the Windows 2003 server. We're trying to install our own DNS, but it doesn't seem to be working entirely. Reverse lookup works, though. If it wasn't obvious before, I'm in over my head with setting up this stuff. I'm a web developer, I never trained to be an IT guy, so trying to decipher server installation/initialization instructions is a bit outside my comfort zone.

Can anyone describe to me the process of setting up DNS on the same machine you're using as a webhost? I read that you basically have to have it point to itself, but I'm not sure if we did it right as, well, for one, I don't know what our DNS name is (my boss did some of the configuration after midnight this morning, and subsequently spaced on it...he's not the most organized guy in the world), and secondly, we basically just told our TCP/IP settings to use our server's static IP address for the DNS.

Thanks in advance.

SeñorAmor

Step 1 - Register your nameservers

Go to your domain registrar and register your nameservers. You may name them whatever you want, but the most common naming method is ns1.yourdomain.com and ns2.yourdomain.com. Make sure you use your public IP address(es) if you're behind a firewall.


Step 2 - Install DNS software on your server(s).

The most popular DNS software is BIND. The latest version is 9.4.1 which you may get here.


Step 3 - Update your DNS records and wait.

This step I can't really guide you on. You will have to change the nameserver info for your domain(s) at your registrar as well as update your DNS records (wherever you did it the first time). Future DNS changes will most likely be made on your DNS server.

DNS takes up to 48 hours to propogate across the internet, so once you make changes, you domain may not resolve properly for a little bit.

Hope this helps.

cyphr

I don't know if you've already fully committed to running your own nameserver, but if this site isn't going to be huge, I've had great luck with and can highly recommend FreeDNS:

http://freedns.afraid.org/

Nightslyr

Before I do all that, does it matter that our 2003 server is essentially my desktop? Yes, we're a poor company.

Djeet

there is no technical limitation; it's possible to run a webserver and a dns server on a desktop machine.

though when you serve a website and dns, you will see increased traffic inbound trying to compromise or deny service though.