Newbie question(s)

[Kevin Darcy]

I think you need to understand the concept of delegation. The DNS namespace is
hierarchical; each level "delegates" down to the next level in a tree structure.
There is a "root" (or ".") zone which delegates to a "com" zone and so on and so
forth. In order for any piece of DNS data to be seen universally on the Internet,
it needs to be in that delegation chain all of the way from the Internet root. So
the relevant questions is: is your server a delegated server for your domain? If it
is, then you can add the MX record and everything will work fine. If not, then you
need to add the MX record to whichever server is the delegated master, presumably
one of your ISP's boxes. If you add a record to a non-delegated server, then it
will only be seen by clients and other nameservers which are specifically
configured to send it queries for that domain.


- Kevin

Scott Vetter wrote:

> Mike:
>
>     Ok, So my DNS points to my ISP.  Does my ISP's DNS have to point to my DNS?
>
>    Now that I think about it, let me ask:  To run my own mail server I need to
> put in an MX record into a DNS.  Mine or my ISP's?  My ISP says it has to go in
> theirs.  But it doesn't make since and figure it should be in my DNS...  What do
> you think?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Scott
>
> ----------
>
> HSC wrote:
>
> > scott-
> >
> > A1)  your DNS simply needs to be connected to the Internet one way or
> > another so that other name servers are able to query it.
> >
> > A2)  redundancy is a matter of opinion; however, it is general convention to
> > have a secondary DNS in operation as backup.  If your primary goes down and
> > people are unable to resolve the addresses of your hosted zones, this will
> > result in possible down time.  How mission-critical is your DNS server?  Are
> > there commercial sites that need to be online 24/7 no excuses?
> >
> > -mike
> >
> > "Scott Vetter" <svetter at onvoymail.com> wrote in message
> > news:397C9693.5C7604C8 at onvoymail.com...
> > >
> > > Hello:
> > >
> > >    I have two questions 1) must my DNS be attached to my ISP or is is
> > > connected to some higher-up link?  2) In order for my DNS to house
> > > registered domain names must I have a secondary DNS running besides just
> > > the main?
> > >
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Scott