Terminology questions (DNS, A-records, MX records, Static IP, etc)

[/dev/rob0]

On Friday 2005-October-28 20:41, Web Guy wrote:
> Question 1:  What is the name of the item or service I require from
> the ISP to accomplish the e-mail connectivity as described above?  Do
> I require "MX-record service" or an "A-record" or what?  What is the

The closest term I can think of to what you are looking for is "DNS 
hosting."

> correct name or description of that item?  And is it typically free,
> or is there a monthly charge associated with it?

Small businesses can do pretty well with the free service of 
zoneedit.com. It's free up to 5 zones and 1GB of bandwidth. A small 
business probably won't use all that.

> (or is this a function of the domain registrar?)

Registrars and ISP's often offer DNS hosting as a service, but in 
general it costs more that way and gives you less control.

> I basically want to replicate this situation with a new ISP on a
> single dedicated IP, so I need to know what to tell the ISP I need
> from their end.

You might want to ask them to set up reverse DNS, or IP-to-hostname 
resolution. Only the ISP can control that, although it can be delegated 
through CNAME records to your forward zone.

Never mind the delegation. "Bite off what you can chew." Zoneedit is a 
decent way to learn a few DNS basics, IMO.

You especially need reverse DNS on your outgoing mail server. More 
aggressive sites reject mail if you have no rDNS or bad rDNS.

> Thanks for any replies (please post them, don't try e-mail).

PS to Joe: this mailing list is also a (moderated) newsgroup, so it
will tend to get a lot of bogus posting addresses.
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