nameservers

[bwglaw]

Anyone know where and how we can set up our own nameservers. We are currently using a personal nameserver with our shared/resellers hosting account and will be closing this because we now have our own webserver and looking to set up nameserver, webmail, webstats etc.

We are also planning to set up a web-hosting business. May consider working with partners. My email address is 'jonathan at handsongroup.co.uk' for any interested parties.

Thanks

[Rob Holmes]

Depending on who you registered your domain with depends if their systems allow you to create your own nameservers. Who is the registrar ?

BTW we do this all day every day and provide fully managed (keywords) dedicated servers to approx 15 hosting companies so if you want to forget all the techie stuff and let us do it so you can get on with actually selling hosting then thats entirely normal and possible :)

Edited> Spellings!

Rob

[Richard Conyard]

You can set up your own nameservers pretty easily. You'll need at least two boxes with public IP's and a DNS product.

To be honest I don't like Microsoft's one, but it is free with the OS, you might want to look at SimpleDNS.

That said, there are lots of technical bits and pieces required when hosting and given that you're asking a pretty simple question I'm guessing that you're going to need to bring someone in (I would suggest aiming for the 25K mark, but be prepared to pay more for the right person). Given that cost you may wish to take Matrix up on his offer.

[Rob Holmes]

Anyone know where and how we can set up our own nameservers. We are currently using a personal nameserver with our shared/resellers hosting account and will be closing this because we now have our own webserver and looking to set up nameserver, webmail, webstats etc.

You mention that you have personal nameservers ATM - Are the nameservers you are using currently your own ? If so you can just login at the registrars (at the appropriate time) and change the IP's associated with them.

You'll also need to add them to the server you will be hosting on.

Care - theres a routine and process to doing this correctly because sites can go down/get lost etc etc..

Rob

[webit]

Care - theres a routine and process to doing this correctly because sites can go down/get lost etc etc..

Very true. So many problems/outages on the web are down to NameServer config.

[bwglaw]

Depending on who you registered your domain with depends if their systems allow you to create your own nameservers. Who is the registrar ?Rob

We have a 'reseller' with Fasthosts, or was it Fastbuck? :) It was Fasthost that set up the nameserver 'handsoninternet.co.uk' for us, which proved to be a waste of money with them. However, we now have our own dedicated win2003 server to host our own sites and a 2-3 external client websites. We wish to setup nameserver for this new dedicated server. We are currently using the supplier's IP address. Although we can give clients the IP address, it is often better to have a more professional image.

It will be a while before we are ready to take on a techie full-time because the server is only serving our companies.

I have undertaken searches to find a service where I can set up the nameserver but the jargon is a bit over my head.

Thanks

[Rob Holmes]

I have undertaken searches to find a service where I can set up the nameserver but the jargon is a bit over my head.

Hey no problems - if you register a domain with us you can create your own nameservers..

http://www.register.matrixxhosting.com

Hope this helps,

Rob

[bwglaw]

BTW we do this all day every day and provide fully managed (keywords) dedicated servers to approx 15 hosting companies so if you want to forget all the techie stuff and let us do it so you can get on with actually selling hosting then thats entirely normal and possible :)
Rob

As a matter of fact we are looking to develop an ISP using our own brand. Ideally, we are looking to reduce the number of 'middle-men' and have exclusive control of the servers. We hated Fasthost so much we wanted to head-butt them! Devious they are with their charging regime.

We are inviting ideas/potential partners to contact at the aforementioned email about working together to develop this. We could tie up with an established company/individual to use our brand and let them run it for the Group.

If you like, we are the next Stelios on the block!...well Branson is more my idol since I got a signed photo from him for my birthday!

[bwglaw]

I have undertaken searches to find a service where I can set up the nameserver but the jargon is a bit over my head.

Hey no problems - if you register a domain with us you can create your own nameservers..

http://www.register.matrixxhosting.com

Hope this helps,

Rob

The domain is already registered. Just need to set it up as a DNS to issue to all clients

[Stephen]

You don't need your own name server - leave this (and the consequential redudnancy/fault tolerance issues) to someone who knows what they're doing (and why) like Rob.

There's no benefit I can see for you in having your own name server, so I suggest you don't worry about it. Whoever is providing the server hosting facilities will be able to do this. (It is professionally hosted in a fault tolerant etc facility isn't it?)

And you won't need to give clients IP numbers, simply ensure appropriate domains have their DNS hosted on someones name servers and you'll be fine.

Hope this helps.

(Edit > This message was posted in response to your original question before you mentioned becoming an ISP - hope I haven't confused matters!!)

[Rob Holmes]

The domain is already registered. Just need to set it up as a DNS to issue to all clients

Fasthosts should have a domain registration section where you can login - there maybe a 'create nameservers' section and you can simply amend the IP's in there. Again - caution - only do this just after you have the sites on the new server!

Rob

[MinuWeb]

You don't need 2 servers to create nameservers either.

We currently have about 750 resellers that all have their own nameservers on our servers, whilst the majority of these are not really needed as such (they could use our nameservers) it does make a reseller look more like a professional hosting company.

[bwglaw]

The domain is already registered. Just need to set it up as a DNS to issue to all clients

Fasthosts should have a domain registration section where you can login - there maybe a 'create nameservers' section and you can simply amend the IP's in there. Again - caution - only do this just after you have the sites on the new server!

Rob

Im aware that by amending DNS websites start to disappear if set not up correctly. What FH should do, don't do! It is for this reason I want to come away from them and set up our own DNS elsewhere because we are transferring websites from FH to our server then updating DNS then KMA to FH

PS KMA = 'kiss my ass'

[Rob Holmes]

OK - Heres what I would do...

Buy another domain - maybe the .net version - set up nameservers that point to your existing hosting IP's.

Then switch all the nameservers on the domains to the new nameservers. There shouldn't be any downtime as the IP's are the same. This removes Fasthosts from control of any active nameservers.

Then on a Friday night copy all the data to the new machine and switch the IP's on your new nameservers to the IP's on your new server.

By Monday morning all will be resolved and you will be extracted from Fasthosts.

Rob

[Rob Holmes]

In fact I would also add that if you put the first two nameservers as the FH ones you could add ns3 and ns4 DNS records as your new ones then allow 24 hours for the new ns3 and ns4 to propagate and then after that delete ns1 and ns2 and move ns3 and ns4 into the ns1 and ns2 master and slave slots.

That way all will have propagated before switching servers. This means an even smaller chance of downtime :)

It all needs to be cool and calculated....

Make lists, even make a grid with domains down one side and processes along the top and work through everything systematically.

Prepare in advance and be sure of what you're doing, how long each stage takes etc. It maybe better if you experiment on a couple of dummy domains first and then move each domain through the entire process from start to finish before moving onto the next one.

Rob

[bwglaw]

Rob

Thanks for the advice. It is a good forum indeed. It is usually me giving the advice but nice to be on the other side for a change.

I will follow your advice. The only knack that cannot be resolved is that FH webmail is so crap and outdated my clients cannot download contacts etc like other webmails. Our new webmail will be able to do this.

I do not recommend anyone to go with Fasthosts. The reseller package is a dud. You pay £50 + VAT a month for the reseller and once you are on board you pay an extra £30 for each hosting account set up for each domain, plus so many extras. Sounds like an Easy business where there are so many extras at cost! Would you believe it that FH charge you for setting up a Control Panel for your clients to use! That is for every client!

[Rob Holmes]

Thanks for the advice. It is a good forum indeed. It is usually me giving the advice but nice to be on the other side for a change.

You're welcome, anytime.

I will follow your advice. The only knack that cannot be resolved is that FH webmail is so crap and outdated my clients cannot download contacts etc like other webmails. Our new webmail will be able to do this.

Good - the main thing is keeping your clients happy

Rob

[MinuWeb]

one thing we have done alot with server transfers is to copy all the data over, and then copy the contents /var/named/ from the old server onto the new server. This will make all domains point to new server (via old server) whilst any nameserver IP changes are propogating with your domain name registrar. As the changes propogate worldwide users will start accessing the new server directly.

[bwglaw]

one thing we have done alot with server transfers is to copy all the data over, and then copy the contents /var/named/ from the old server onto the new server. This will make all domains point to new server (via old server) whilst any nameserver IP changes are propogating with your domain name registrar. As the changes propogate worldwide users will start accessing the new server directly.

Can you explain what 'create host record' means? There are two options, nameservers and host record.

I am waiting for the handsoninternet.net domain registration to take effect then will upload the files to new server and change DNS

[Rob Holmes]

copy the contents /var/named/ from the old server onto the new server.

I understand what you're trying to say but shouldn't it be the other way around?

Copy the new zone files over to the old so while the old is still active the A records have the new IP's in them and direct people to the new server.

Apologies if I've misunderstood!

Rob

[MinuWeb]

copy the contents /var/named/ from the old server onto the new server.

I understand what you're trying to say but shouldn't it be the other way around?

Copy the new zone files over to the old so while the old is still active the A records have the new IP's in them and direct people to the new server.

Apologies if I've misunderstood!

Rob

My mistake, I meant to say copy /var/named from new to old server.
Been a long day :) luckily I am not doing any server transfers this weekend :D

[othellotech]

My mistake, I meant to say copy /var/named from new to old server.
Been a long day :) luckily I am not doing any server transfers this weekend :D
Wont help much if its a windows server its going onto and you dont have the equivalent of root access to the old one (if its a FH reseller account) ;)

I would seriously advise you to go the 2 new nameservers route as you've started, with the .net domain

After the domainis registered, create 2 nameserver records at UKREG to the ips of the new server

On the new server get your chosen DNS application installed and running.

register a test domain (say the .org.uk for your company) and at registration, specify your new ns1/ns2 nameservers.

Add the domain to your new server, either manually in IIS etc or through whatever control panel you've picked.

Check the "zone" is working - use tools like www.samspade.org and www.dnscheck.com etc to analyse the results, fix, tweak etc

Once you're happy that it works, upload a few test pages and check they are "served" correctly to a browser, setup mail and check you can send/receive so you know pop3/smtp is functioning.

Then setup all your domains, copy over all the client sites, ask them to collect any emails etc, make the changes to each of the domains to use the new nameservers, and for good measure, change the IPs of the old nameservers to the same as the new ones, and wait ...

Keep the clients informed, they will appreciate it if you explain whats going on, why it will benefit them , nad how to contact you if they cant send/receive email. Also ask them to temporarily suspend updating their sites, check any ftp settings they have to use thedomain not the IP, and to "lock" and databases so no updates are lost during the transition periods