bind on standalone pc

[Kevin Darcy]

Jens wrote:

> Kevin Darcy <kcd at daimlerchrysler.com> wrote:
>
> > If your provider provides a reasonable "default domain" via DHCP, then
> > you should just be able to configure your MTA with the unqualified name
> > "smtp" and it should just work, shouldn't it? Why do you need help from
> > BIND here?
>
> I use multiple providers with different names for the SMTP server, for
> example mail.provider1.com, smtp.provider2.com. And for my mail
> program, I want to use ONE server name for the outgoing mail server.

Well then, why don't you have a script run whenever you connect to a
provider, which modifies a particular DNS entry? Then you could always use
the same name. No aliasing would be necessary. You could even use
"nsupdate" to update the name dynamically, which would obviate reloading the
nameserver.

> > For that matter, why do you need to configure your MTA with your
> > provider's SMTP server name at all? Why not just use the MX records in
> > the Internet DNS and deliver mail directly to their destinations? Is
> > your provider adding any value here?
>
> Don't know, most mail programs go through the smtp as a relay.

Most of them can be configured that way, but that's never been my preference.
I view SMTP as a peer-to-peer protocol, not some hierarchical monstrosity
where you "punt" your mail upstream and _hope_ that it gets to its
destination.

But, now we're getting into SMTP architecture issues, which is OT for this
list...

> > > And with c) I want to resolv names like www.bbc.news, i.e. I define
> > > some extrax (root-)servers.
> >
> > Configure your nameserver as a root server with a version of the root
> > zone which is a superset of the real root zone. Make sure this "private
> > root" server never answers queries from the Internet, however, otherwise
> > you could poison other people's caches. Also, make sure to keep your
> > private root zone constantly in synch with the real root zone otherwise
> > you may find yourself unable to resolve names in recently-added ccTLDs
> > and the like.
>
> A zone of type slave?

No, you can't be a slave because you won't have an exact copy of the zone
(yours is a superset, remember?). You'd need to work out some way of getting
the real root information periodically and merging into your private root
zone.

Why do you want to use non-ICANN domains anyway? Seems like it's more trouble
than it's worth.


- Kevin