Setting up my own DNS Server


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Hi,

I am a developer and have been playing around with IT related stuff of late. I need a basic understanding of the steps involved in hosting my own DNS. I have a registered domain at GoDaddy and am running a virtual instance of Windows Server 2008 at home. I want to host my own DNS from home and point the GoDaddy nameservers to my home network. The site I want to host is not for public purposes but for internal development case studies at work so I do not really care about uptime or any osrt of usability issue. In other words I know that managing my own DNS wouldn't be something I would do if I had a mission critical website to host. This is for pure lab testing. Could someone provide me some resources or links to sites that would help me understand how I could go about setting up my own DNS server using Windows Server 2008 and what exactly needs to be configured at GoDaddy in order for the public to be re-directed to my home server when they visit <mywebsite>.com

I'm new to this and need a basic set of steps that would guide me through setting up an DNS server at home and enabling me to host a simple .aspx page on my domain that can be seen to the public if anyone visits my domain.

Thanks a ton.

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If you have a dynamic IP then you have to update the nameserver ip address on godaddy every time your home ip changes.

As a workaround you can use a host name on some free dns sites to specify the nameserver.

On Windows 2008, just create a 'New Zone' in 'Forward Lookup Zones' and add a A record at the minimum.

You can add a PTR or MX record if you desire.

what your wanting to do is a complete waste of time.. there is no point to hosting DNS to the public when you have 1 IP address.. NONE! Most registrars require you to have atleast 2 IPs for your nameservers for starters.

Setup your records on godaddy for your 1 ip address, or point your domain to zoneedit or something if you want better control of the DNS. But hosting your own is just going cause you more grief than its worth. As mentioned if your IP changes your going to have problems, and for starters could be offline for the life of the TTL.

Host your dns outside if its possible for your IP to change. Zonedit is FREE for up to 5 domains and supports dynamic IP, and gives you complete control over all records, etc. They even have failover service, etc. .etc.

If you want to host DNS for your local network -- sure that makes sense. .local or .lan etc. for all your local machines.. But hosting dns to the public is not going to buy you anything and just cause you grief and issues.. And what exactly are you going to learn from the exp?? You clearly don't even understand even the basics of dns, if you did you would understand what you your wanting to do is pointless ;)

Play with dns all you want on your local network -- hosting it to the public, learn the basics first! I would highly suggest this book

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596100575/

For understanding DNS, before you go wanting to host this service to the public ;)

  • 2 weeks later...
Hi,

I am a developer and have been playing around with IT related stuff of late. I need a basic understanding of the steps involved in hosting my own DNS. I have a registered domain at GoDaddy and am running a virtual instance of Windows Server 2008 at home. I want to host my own DNS from home and point the GoDaddy nameservers to my home network. The site I want to host is not for public purposes but for internal development case studies at work so I do not really care about uptime or any osrt of usability issue. In other words I know that managing my own DNS wouldn't be something I would do if I had a mission critical website to host. This is for pure lab testing. Could someone provide me some resources or links to sites that would help me understand how I could go about setting up my own DNS server using Windows Server 2008 and what exactly needs to be configured at GoDaddy in order for the public to be re-directed to my home server when they visit <mywebsite>.com

I'm new to this and need a basic set of steps that would guide me through setting up an DNS server at home and enabling me to host a simple .aspx page on my domain that can be seen to the public if anyone visits my domain.

Thanks a ton.

Take a look at Treewalk. http://ntcanuck.com/

Thats really just designed as personal caching server.. Does not even run on the OS he is using.

Requirements:

4. Windows? XP, 2000, .NET and 2003 workstations or servers Vista version pending>) *

TreeWalk was designed and developed for FREE use as a Personal DNS Caching Server only! If you wish to use it as a Mail Server or Web Server DNS application, please contact [email protected] for details.

His OS comes with a pretty decent nameserver already MS DNS is ok, they made some nice changes in 2008.. But if he did not like it he could always run Bind DNS.

<snipped>>

Edited by Colin-uk
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