There's a newer version of this guide here: LINK
Your own DNS servers with InterWorx
A Crash Course
(v. 1.0)
By Tim Ryberg
DISCLAIMER: No guarantee is expressed or implied. All I know is that this worked for me and at least one other person. You are responsible for your own server and fixing anything you break as well as any downtime you may experience. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. However, there is no reason that this will not work if done correctly.
Contents |
Introduction:
I've had so many people ask me about how I set up my own DNS with an InterWorx box at Sago Networks, that I've decided to write a helper document on it.
If you are reading this document I am assuming two things:
You have a server with the InterWorx control panel installed on it You want to use your own (ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com) DNS servers instead of your provider's This has only been tested at Sago Networks on a RedHat 9 Machine, but I assume it will work on any InterWorx box on any platform (Fedora, CentOS, FreeBSD, etc.).
[ NOTE: The screen captures below are taken from a Microsoft Windows XP machine running Internet Explorer 6. The Domainsite page was visited in late May of 2004 and my machine was running version 1.7.1 of InterWorx on RED HAT 9. Your screens may vary slightly. The site design of Domainsite is ©2004 Spot Domain LLC and the design of InterWorx is Copyright © NEXCESS.NET L.L.C. 2000-2004. No infringement on either is intended. Screen caps are provided here for user clarification only.]
Creating a Name Server
The first thing you need to do if you want to run your own DNS server (and not use your provider's) is to register it with your registrar (Network Solutions, Domainsite, GoDaddy or any of a dozen others). This is normally free if you have the domain with them.
Pick a domain that you own (you only need one, even if you host many sites) to use for a DNS server. You MUST own the domain in question. If you do not currently own the domain you will need to register (rent) it from a registrar such as the ones listed above.. Go to your registrar (I've used Network Solutions and Domainsite, but prefer Domainsite), log in, and go to the option Register DNS Server (or possibly Create DNS Server-- NOT Edit DNS Servers or Modify DNS Servers, you will use that later) and fill out the form. It will want to know the name of your server and the IP address. I've included some screen caps below from Domainsite. (scroll down for examples).
This is the screen on Domainsite where you manage your domain from. When you log in you will be taken to a list of all of your domains and then you need to click on one of them to get this screen.
This is an example of the screen from domainsite.com. Notice I typed an "ns1" (no period) in the blank. I repeated thus process for both servers. First it asks you for the name server name. On the next screen you need to supply the IP.
for example I use:
- Primary DNS Server
- ns1.transwarphosting.net on IP address 65.110.52.170
- Secondary DNS Server
- ns2.transwarphosting.net on IP address 65.110.52.170
- Tertiary DNS Server
- ns3.transwarphosting.net on IP address 65.110.52.170
These will be the IP's that your provider gave you when you signed up. I chose to use the prime (first) IP from my server for both.
I've read experts say to use different IP addresses for each server but I fail to see the point unless they are on different physical machines and network cards. The point of the second (and third) is to be a backup for the first, and if they are on the same machine odds are all of them will be down if any of them are down. So why waste the IPs? [ However, the DNS system requires you to use at least two, so make sure to register at least two. I think the system was put in place back when servers and network connections were less stable than they are now.] I've had this set up this way for four months with no adverse effects.
Network Solutions lets you register two for the same domain at a time if I recall (and you can add more later on another screen), Domainsite allows more than that, but most people don't need that many. InterWorx supports up to three, so I am showing that here. When I set up my server, I originally did two and added a third several months later.
After you do this you will need to let it propagate through the system for a couple days. Normally 24-48 hrs is sufficient, however if you are modifying an existing record it takes longer. If you are familiar with the intricacies of DNS you know that the Time To Live (length of time other servers check for updates) for most DNS records is a week, causing delays in some updates. This is normal. If you make changes more often you should set a lower Time To Live setting for your records. However, doing that is beyond the scope of this document at this time.
Please note that I have noticed that it takes longer for a domain or name server registered with the .net database to be a valid for the .info domains. When I ran into this problem I simply wrote to my registrar (Domainsite) and they got it working a few days later. I would not be surprised if this was the case with .us .cn .name and other alternative extensions.
Pointing Your Domains
A day or two later, go back to your registrar, log in, select a domain you want to point to your server, and then go to "edit name servers" and replace the registrar's or your provider's with your own. ns1. and ns2.yourdomain.com servers.
This is the screen I used on domainsite.com to change the name servers assigned to a particular domain. By default they will normally have their own name servers (ns1.domainsite.com and ns2.domainsite.com) assigned. It is necessary to remove both of theirs and put yours in using the form on the right. Ignore the warnings. They are just telling you that if you change the servers the other add-on services they provide will not work. If you do not remove their servers, your name servers will not work correctly.
When you click add, you should get a message that the server was added successfully; If you get the message that you have specified an invalid name server then you haven't waited long enough for it to propagate. Try it again in a day or two.
For example
transwarphosting.net has name servers ns1.transwarphosting.net and ns2.transwarphosting.net
transwarp2000.net also has name servers ns1.transwarphosting.net and ns2.transwarphosting.net
followhim.org also has name servers ns1.transwarphosting.net and ns2.transwarphosting.net
This is the same for all 20-some of my domains.
It is okay to register three name servers (and associate them with InterWorx) but only use two of them with your domains as long as they are the only ones assigned to your domains.
[NOTE: This step can be a time consuming process if you have more than a couple domains and Domainsite has a feature to allow mass editing of domains so you can edit all of them at once if you register with them.]
At the same time you will need to go into NodeWorx and change the settings there from your provider's to your own.
Log into NodeWorx [ https://your_ip_address:2443/nodeworx/ ] Click on Preferences Change ns1.cust.sagonet.com and ns2.cust.sagonet.com to ns1.yourdomain.com and ns2.yourdomain.com (You may also add ns3.yourdomain.com if you registered it, but as stated above, it isn't necessary) Click save
This is the main NodeWorx screen
This is the screen where you change the main preferences on InterWorx, including the name server names.
Then give it a few days to propagate. When you think you've given it enough time, log into your server via SSH and use the whois and dig Linux commands to check on the progress.
$ whois transwarphosting.net $ whois ns1.transwarphosting.net $ whois 65.110.52.170 $ dig transwarphosting.net $ dig ns1.transwarphosting.net $ dig 65.110.52.170
This will let you know if they have started to propagate across the Internet yet or not. Fair warning, just because this works does not mean that it will work for everyone in the world. The DNS database is a huge one and can take up to a week to completely update. However, two days is normally sufficient.
Like all DNS changes it takes time for the settings to propagate through the Internet and it is possible that you will experience a small amount of downtime. Do not worry about loosing email. Most mail servers keep trying for several days before giving up on sending email to a "down" server. If you've done this step by step you should not loose any email.
I don't know if there would be any adverse effects of changing this AFTER you have set up your SiteWorx Accounts/Domains or not. If you run into problems, back up your html and related files and delete the SiteWorx account and then recreate it. I tend to be a systematic person so I did it this way.
Creating Domains [SiteWorx Accounts]
The next step is to log into NodeWorx and go to the NodeWorx => SiteWorx screen and create SiteWorx accounts for each of your domains (including the one you used for the name server, assuming you want to use it for web or email).
Zones and MX records are created by InterWorx automatically when you create SiteWorx accounts. You do not need to do that by hand. That is one of the chief advantages to InterWorx. In fact, unless you know exactly what you are doing I advise you to not touch the DNS page in NodeWorx at all!
This is the NodeWorx SiteWorx screen. It lists all of the domains (SiteWorx accounts) you have on the server.
Click on the "add" link to add an additional account.
This is the screen that you use to add SiteWorx accounts. Just fill in the info and click add. If you were successful you will be taken back to the main list of SiteWorx accounts and get the message "SiteWorx account added successfully" in the upper right corner.
Creating Sub Domains
There are two ways to create sub domains
Creating a sub domain in the InterWorx => SiteWorx panel (the screen is called Subdomains) Creating a new SiteWorx account with the fully qualified domain name such as: website.transwarohosting.net
The second is accomplished with the same steps as used above for the creation of the SiteWorx account. If you choose that option you will rout everything (including email) through the sub domain. For example the users email would be something like
mailbox@website.transwarphosting.net
The first method is just as easy:
Log into NodeWorx, Go to the SiteWorx Screen and log into the SiteWorx account you will be using OR
Log Directly into the SiteWorx account you are using [ https://yourdomain.com:2443/siteworx/ ] Click on Subdomains on the left menu or the account feature list Type the name of the sub domain that you want to add in the blank provided; for example: forum for forum.transwarphosting.net
or
support for support.transwarphosting.net
or
my for my.transwarphosting.net
You will not be able to add ones for www or mail as they already exist and foreword to your domains root [ domain_name.com/html ]directory.
5. Click Add
Each sub domain that you add will lead to a directory with the sane name in the domain_name/html directory on your server. For example
forum.transwarphosting.net will lead to the directory /home/transwar/transwarphosting.net/html/forum
and
support.transwarphosting.net will lead to the directory /home/transwar/transwarphosting.net/html/support
and
my.transwarphosting.net will lead to the directory /home/transwar/transwarphosting.net/html/my
[I do not know if it is possible to change this or not as it is an Apache (web server) setting.]
You will see a list of all of the subdomains you have created (and their destinations) at the bottom of this screen.
[NOTE: InterWorx DOES NOT use the /var/www/html directory for virtual hosting. It uses directories of the /home directory for each SiteWorx user account in the pattern /home/username/domainname.com/html . The SiteWorx username is the first 8 characters of the domain name you specified. For example the user name for transwarphosting.net is transwar. If there is more than one domain that would qualify for the same username each still gets a username with the last digit becoming a number after the first one is used. For example transwa1 is the username I got for my Transwarp2000.net domain and transwa2 is for my transwarphosting.net domain.]
This is the main SiteWorx screen. Click on the link to the left to create a sub domain.
This is the screen where you make subdomains. Simply type the name of the subdomain that you want to create -- NO PERIOD -- in the blank to the left of the domain name and click add. A list of all sub domains configured for the domain (with the exception of www and mail) will appear below the form to add additional ones.
Creating Pointer Domains
Pointer domains are domains that lead to the same domain. For example I have the site
http://www.awalktorememberonline.org and I want to have the domains http://www.awalktorememberonline.com and http://www.awalktorememberonline.net to go the the same place. I use a pointer domain to do this. I could do this through a complicated process through my domain registrar, but InterWorx does all the work for me.
To do this
Log Into NodeWorx, click on SiteWorx on the left and click the SiteWorx button next to the domain you want to manage
OR
Log Into the SiteWorx account Click on Pointer Domain to the left Type the name of the pointer domain you want to add in the box. Click the OK button You should get the message Pointer Domain added successfully Repeat steps 4-6 for any additional pointer domains you want to add.
This is the screen to add a pointer domain. Simply type the name of the pointer domain that you want in the field to the left and click "add." You should get the message pointer domain added successfully and the domain that you added will appear in the box below if you did it right. If not then there is a problem.
That's about it. If you've followed these instructions carefully, you should have the server working the way you want.
This document is a work in progress so please write me or post something to the TranswarpHosting forums if you have any suggestions or corrections.
This document (c) 2004 by Tim Ryberg. All Rights Reserved. Permission is grated to NEXCESS.NET to reproduce this document. All others please direct requests to the author.
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