Question : Do I need a custom name server?

Hi,

I'm from a web development background, but have recently had to administor the maintenance of our websites, i.e. setting up new domains, setting the dns up.

My knowledge of DNS is ok, I understand the threories behind it, but when it comes to adding a new website to our dedicated web server, I just find myself copying over the settings for a different domain, and I'm now starting to question those settings... we seem to have at least 3 IP Addresses for each domain 2 for the name servers, 1 for the domain, and maybe an extra one or two for subdomains.

We are about to move hosting providers (to rackspace), that is our two dedicated servers, one DB (SQL Server) and one Web (IIS).  We have 7 domains (a couple of subdomains under those), each domain has their own custom name server... is there a need for this?  What are the benefits and why? i.e. ns1.domain1.com & ns2.domain1.com etc.

Can't I just use the 1&1 name servers? And then point each domain at their own IP Address on the host web server rather than pointing at the nameservers I have created at 1&1 which in turn point to the hosted webserver?

With regards to subdomains, do I have to create them at 1&1?  Or is it enough to just create a DNS entry on the hosted webserver - am I right in thinking these would be Host (A) records if they are pointing to a different IP Address (same server) or a CNAME if the subdomain is on the same IP Address.

We are not a reseller, we are a private company with a few domains.

Thanks for listening, and thanks in advance.

Answer : Do I need a custom name server?

There's neither need nor use to have a dedicated name server per domain.
In fact it is often preferable to have at least one authoritative name server that is not in the domain itself (name-wise)

Besides - the usual requirement is that the two authoritative name servers specified in the registration process do not reside in the same class C network range. I may be wrong but your setup sounds like a lot of name servers in a small ip range.

There's nothing wrong with using 1&1's dns servers for hosting the domain - you need to contract that accordingly and specify the fact in the chprov procedure.
Additionally, on can surely find some free secondary name server services.

Finally, it is usually not a good idea to use one ip address per webserver. Ip addresses are a rare resource
and with virtual hostng you can have hundreds of web servers (with different hostnames) live at the same ip.

If you want to make changes to your zone data, you need to do that at the authoritative name servers - i nyour scenario at 1&1 (I'm sure they have some online form to make such changes).

There are a few alternatives:
a) You might setup *one* name server of your own, ns.maindomain.com say and add NS entries to other domain.com as follows (and also specify the same upon registration / change of provider):
domain.com. NS ns.maindomain.com.
domain.com. NS ns1.1-and-1.com.
domain.com. NS ns2.1-and-1.com.
In this case you must tell 1&1 that their name servers shall be slave name servers for domain.com with master server ns.maindomain.com (i.e. the name server under your control).
Then you can make changes / add records etc. on ns.maindomain.com and these will propagate to the other name servers.
(Be sure to have the maindomain.com thing correctly running in the first place)

b) Same as above, but you do not expose your server externally, i.e. you have only
domain.com. NS ns1.1-and-1.com.
domain.com. NS ns2.1-and-1.com.
In this case you must tell 1&1 to use your ns.maindomain.com as a so-called "hiden primary".
That is, they will sync with the server under your control, but "out there" noone will notice

c) probably the standard package at most ISPs: Use their name servers (i.e.
domain.com. NS ns1.1-and-1.com.
domain.com. NS ns2.1-and-1.com.
and you administrate the zon vi 1&1 (might be a web form, a ticket system or a phone call per record, it depends)


Finally, by means of vhosting you will typically not need separate ip addresses for subdmoains, hence you might have DNS entries
www.maindomain.com. A 12.34.56.78
and then
www.domsin.com CNAME www.maindomain.com.
some.sub.som.domsin.com CNAME www.maindomain.com.

There's just one caveat with "mass" virtual hosting:
If you use encryption (read: https) you can only have one certificate / host name per ip.