How to Point NetworkSolutions to my Name Server?

[Weldon Goree]

On Tue, 2004-03-23 at 16:51, Phil S wrote:
> At Verisign's site I can point to two name servers, but I cannot use
> my dynamic IP address as a Name Server  ... I need a  name server with
> a domain name ... I am confused by what looks like a chicken-and-egg
> problem.
> 

Like most servers it's difficult for clients to access BIND if its IP
address is dynamic. You're right to point to an ultimate "chicken and
egg" situation, and yes at some point a registrar needs to know the
actual IP address of a nameserver rather than its name. 

Generally how it works is that the main registrar servers know the
addresses of the big ISP nameservers. The "lesser" nameservers tend to
piggyback off those big ISP servers, but you should be able to tell your
registrar that your nameserver is 123.45.67.89 or whatever (I don't do
much domain registration with verisign so I don't know if they let you
do that). As you pointed out, that's only half of your problem since you
might be .89 today and .98 next week.


> I suppose in the real world, I would put a DNS Name Server  up on
> someone else's established network??

Yes, and I'd say most DNS servers have a server "upstream" that offers
at least one name to get to them, though like I said you don't need this
and you can "bootstrap" your own DNS server's IP address with the
registrar -- as long as that IP address is static.

Generally if you want a DNS server to be accessible it will need a
static IP address. There's a system called dynamic dns (google for it)
that uses very short ttl's and a small client program to let hosts with
dynamic IP addresses offer services under a constant dns name. However,
I'm not sure that system would be practical for a DNS server (it's used
mostly for Web or application servers).

> My dynamic IP lasts for weeks at a time, and I only want to use it to
> stest my DNS setup, but I can't figure out how to set this up a name
> server with my ISP.

Frankly any solution is going to cost more money than you're spending
right now. Either you will need to lease a static IP address from your
ISP, or work out some sort of DNS hosting arrangement with someone.

If you just want to play around with the DNS servers, you can tell your
registrar that your nameserver is ns.foo.com (or whatever your domain
is) and then edit your HOSTS file to say ns.foo.com is 192.168.1.2 (or
whatever its local IP address is). That way you can use them as DNS
servers on your local network, though anybody else who tries to access
that domain will get errors.

Weldon Goree