Topic: Host my own DNS

[Michiel Boterenbrood]

Hi all,

I'm interested in hosting my own DNS for my domain. I've been using the free services of www.granitecanyon.com for a while now, but they are down A LOT. So I just turned to www.zonedit.com and am hoping they do a better job.

But I want to have a failsafe, I want to be able to be a secondary DNS server myself so that when zonedit decides to take a nap my domain will stay live.

I'm quite green with linux so I'm hoping someone can give me a clue as to how I can get this working!?

Thanks in advance,

Michiel Boterenbrood
michiel.boterenbrood@planet.nl
www.networking-resources.com

[Graeme Robinson]

Michiel,
setting up a secure DNS is not easy, and is a significant ongoing task.  There is no externally visible DNS in E-smith for this very reason (there was a security vulnerability in earlier versions which prompted its removal).  Strongly suggest you find a reliable dns host and not try to do it yourself.  Do a search for earlier discussion on this topic.  I wanted to do host my own dns too but I was convinced it would be more trouble than it's worth.
Graeme.

[Michiel Boterenbrood]

Thanks for the info Graeme,

What DNS provider are you using now??
I've configured Zonedit yesterday and am now waiting for my internic records to be updated. Curious as to how reliable these guys are.

Thanks again for the info,

Michiel

[Jeff Fox]

I've used ZoneEdit for a few months now and as far as I know they've been 100% reliable.
So far my site has very little traffic so it's possible that it's been down and I've missed it.
I suspect that ZoneEdit is much more stable than Granite Canyon since they do support paying customers.

The DNS howto (do a Google search for it) gives a step-by-step on  setting up your on DNS server and domain. I've not done it, but it looks like it's easeir than 'impossible'.

[Ben]

as all the other emails have said, hosting is difficult. You would be better off getting a local isp to host your records for you as their dns would be "less" prone to exploits via bind (the dns program). If you do attempt to do it tho there is quite a good number of howto's on how to configure a simple dns server, right up to configuring it in a chroot jail which minimises damage a potential hacker may do. Also it wouldnt be a good idea to host the dns on your e-smith server anyway, its best to have a separate machine for it. A low spec pentium will do the job quite easily if the software is installed correctly.

cheers

Ben