Simple question that doesn't let me sleep :)

[Kevin Darcy]

Vitali Malicky wrote:

> Hello ladies and gentlemen!
>
> I have been given a definite task:
>
> 1 to make several virtual ip-based hosts;
> 2 to set up a name server on that macchine;
> 3 to make that name server to resolve all those virtual host names
>   (so that not to pay our ISP for registering a number of new domain names);
>
>   for example:
>   I buy an ip-address, invent a domain name, check out if it already exists in the internet,
>   if not, then I can give it to one of my virtual hosts, and if someone from the
>   internet wants to see my site on that virtual hosts the dns query comes to my
>   name server where the qurey is resolved and everything is OK as a result :)
>
>   Is it technically possible or is it possible at all.
>   Thanks in advance for any help both little and detailed.

It's not technically possible, unless you can convince everyone who would ever want to come to
your site to replace the servers in their "hints" file with your servers, and then use your
servers for every query that they would normally send to the root servers. If your
"invented" domain name were under an existing TLD (e.g. com, net, org, a country-code TLD,
etc.), then you would have to handle all of the queries from those servers for those domains as
well.

The reason for this is that DNS has a hierarchical namespace. Unless you are somehow attached
to the "tree", no-one will ever know to ask your nameservers about a particular "branch" of
that tree. These attachments are called "delegations" and flow downwards from the root servers.

I have to ask though: why do you think you need to pay your ISP to register domain names? If
you have your own nameservers, you can register the domains yourself directly from a domain
registrar, which is probably a lot cheaper. (Is it some sort of contractual thing between you
and your ISP? In that case, you're probably stuck).


- Kevin