On 07/31/02 at 11:39, Mark Wheeler wrote:
> This seems like such a struggle just to set up a web server and mail
> server, since I already have the domain name registered and all seems
> ready to go. I know this is a lot of info, but anything you can add
> would be helpful.
Well... It's not ready to go until your name servers are ready. The most
important part, indeed the whole point, of registering a domain name is
specifying the name servers that will be authoritative for the domain. And
once those servers have been specified, you need to make sure that they
have the information needed for you to do what you want to do with the
domain. The Domain Name System (DNS) doesn't work by magic. For each domain
there needs to be one or more (preferably at least two) name servers that
can authoritatively translate names in the domain to information (IP
addresses, etc.) that other computers on the 'net can use to find your
servers.
Any service that relies on domain names (web, mail, etc.) necessarily also
relies on properly configured name servers. It follows that anyone who
'just' wants to set up a web server or a mail server necessarily also needs
to know something about the name servers for their domain(s). Web, mail and
other internet services are not isolated in a vacuum. They must be able to
interconnect with other services and protocols. DNS is part of the glue
that holds everything together and name servers are what make DNS work.
It's not really all that difficult, you just need to realize that there are
a few more pieces to the puzzle than the web and mail servers. A web server
or a mail server is kind of like a fighter pilot -- the pilot gets the
plane where it needs to go to deliver its payload, but without the
maintenance and ground crews back at its base, the plane can't get off the
ground to begin with.
At any rate (and apologies for the rant), if you're going to be running web
and mail servers, you will do yourself a great service by learning about
how DNS works. The 'bible' is a book called 'DNS and BIND', published by
O'Reilly. If you're not ready to dive into that, I'm sure you can find lots
of good information with a Google search.
--
Christopher Bort | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Webmaster, Global Homes | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
<http://www.globalhomes.com/>
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