Green as green can be ... and totally lost

[Jeff Lasman]

Hans Solo wrote:

> First of I'm new to DNS... I just got a static IP today and want to set up
> my own DNS server.  I have a domain name registered with reggie.ca.  I am
> not sure where to start,

The long journey begins with a single step <smile>.

> I have Bind9 and names installed on my Linux Debian
> box but not sure how to configure it.  Do I have to point mydomain.ca from
> Reggie.ca to my static IP?

Having visited the www.reggie.ca website I presume they're your
"registrar"; that you registered your domain with them.

When you did, did they ask what "nameservers" you were going to use?  My
recollection is that .ca domains (subdomains, actually, but we won't go
there tonight <grin>) require two working nameservers upon registration;
my guess is that reggie.ca used their own nameservers.

To use your own nameservers you must have two.  I can't think of any way
around that with .ca domains, though someone more experienced with
current .ca registrations may correct me.

It's possible that reggie.com will be willing to act as a slave
nameserver for you, either at no charge or for a fee.

What you need to do is register your nameserver with reggie.com.  I have
no idea how to do it, you should either find the information on their
website or ask their customer service or technical support department. 
To register it you'll need to have both an IP# for it, and a "Fully
Qualified Domain Name" (FQDN).  You should also enter this information
into your DNS zone-file for your domain, which for the purpose of this
post I'm calling example.ca.  You might want to use ns1.example.ca as
your FQDN.

You'll also need to arrange for a slave nameserver to act as a "slave",
answering authoritatively to queries for domain information for your
domain, and getting the information from your nameserver
(ns1.example.ca).  You should ask reggie.ca if they'll do it at no
charge, or for a charge, or you can ask someone you know, who also has a
nameserver) if they'll do it for you, perhaps in exchange for you acting
as a slave for one or more of their domains as well.  Or you can find a
free or commercial entity to do it for you, by searching the fine web
<smile>.  You should then also add a zone record for the slave
nameserver into your zone file.  When you're finished you should have
these records in your zone file to support DNS:

example.ca.		IN	NS	123.45.67.8

ns1.example.ca.		IN A	123.45.67.8
ns1.slavedomain.ca.	IN A	45.67.32.1

Your SOA record should also list your master nameserver:

example.ca.	IN SOA	ns1.example.ca. emailaddress.example.ca. (

and so forth for the rest of the SOA record.

Then ask reggie.ca to change the nameserver designation for you in the
.ca registry.

I don't think I've forgotten anything; if I have I'm sure someone will
jump in and correct me.

> Are there any good tutorials out there? THanks for any help...

Two come to mind; "DNS and Bind", published by O'Reilly, by Albitz and
Liu; it's up to the 4th edition now.  Also "Linux DNS Server
Administration" published by Sybex, by Hunt.

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Lasman, nobaloney.net, P. O. Box 52672, Riverside, CA  92517 US
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