Need help with nameservers

[ZaZZeR.com]

Ok, first of all, I know nothing about servers, or nameservers, or hosting, design, programming or anything else. I do marketing and I pay people to do the above. However, I have had some problems lately with the people that I pay to do this stuff and I need someones' help.

I am switching servers and have no idea what a nameserver does. I know that I need to change my nameservers so that the domains willl show up when I change servers. How do I know what nameserver to put. Are there free nameservers? How do I use a nameserver and still have my sites show up. Please help. OH, and please make sure your explanation is in laymans terms and not technical, cuz I just won't understand.

I would be willing to pay someone to do this for me.

 

[Mr Webname]

If you know nothing about server managment make sure that the server you are getting comes with Webhost Manager/Cpanel or you are likely to have serious difficulties in managing it - my advice is do not think about managing a server with just say Webadmin or similar control, with no server knowledge you will come to grief.

Nameservers don't have to cost anything, let's say you have the domain "myserver.com" all you need to do is "register" nameservers for it, (no not like you do for a domain).
Somewhere in your registrar's control panel there will be a slot for registering nameservers. Find it and register the nameservers "ns1.myserver.com" and "ns2.myserver.com" - you will need the IP address(es) for the server before you can register them - there shouldn't be any charge for this.
The nameservers will then be registered on the net and will be the point that it uses to look for your name - so a request for your name will go to say ns1.myserver.com > it knows where the site myserver.com is located on the server so it "serves" it to the request, (allow up to 72 hours for propogation).

With Webhost Manager/Cpanel and a reasonable support you should be able to pick it up without too much heartache. If the server is just sold as "over to you, don't bother us" I would seriously recomend getting some help as you will need some advice and assistance at some point. Maybe check WHT for recomended server management companies or find someone here who is recommended - don't just give out your server details to anyone!

 

[theparrot]

You should have at least two servers on two different networks to properly do nameservers. Many registrars also provide namerserver service. You can use that if you want. A nameserver just takes a name and maps it to an IP address basically. There are some tricks and tips that should be used when changing naneservers to minimize the downtime. Some of them may not be needed as much next week with the changes verisign is making, but some of them still are.

PM me if you want advice.

 

[seeker]

sorry to bud in, one question.

after registering the corresponding ns1 and ns2 to their IPs, what exactly do you do with the domain itself???
do you have to 'direct' it somewhere, change its IP...etc...?
is registering ns1 and ns2 of the domain with the Ips enough?

thanks!

 

[theparrot]

Assuming you want to use the domain for more then just nameservers, you need to add the addresses you will use to its nameservers. They do not all have to be in the same domain. So the domain can have ns1.example.net and ns2.example.org as its nameservers and be example.com, and offer name server service at ns1.example.com, and ns2.example.com. You will need entries for ns1 and ns2 in the example.com zone file so the nameservers can be found and used for domains that are not .coms.

 

[seeker]

ok, so If I dont want to use the domain for anything else other than for my new server, adding ns1 and ns2 -->Ips is sufficient right?
thanks

 

[theparrot]

adding it in two place, to the zone file for the TLD, and also in the nameserver records for that domain itself.

 

[Mr Webname]

You should have at least two servers on two different networks to properly do nameservers.

PM me if you want advice.

That could be confusing IMO - it is ideal but by no means necessary.

 

[Ricado]

I'm not sure what you mean "switch server".
I think all you need is to modify the host record of DNS.
If you switch you web sites to another server, for example from server A to server B.
Then you just need to modify the Host IP address of your domain name at dns server.

 

[Anthony Ng]

Ok, first of all, I know nothing about servers, or nameservers, or hosting, design, programming or anything else. I do marketing and I pay people to do the above. However, I have had some problems lately with the people that I pay to do this stuff and I need someones' help.

Your best bet is to hire some other people to do that for you.

 

[stoned]

I have been hired , I am waiting for his PM. I set up his server and updated it. I am messing with nameservers now.

 

[Mr Webname]

I am messing with nameservers now.

+ "stoned" = :-O









:-D Just joking!

 

[theparrot]

That could be confusing IMO - it is ideal but by no means necessary.

It is required by the RFCs. In this sense it is necessary, and in fact it is a good check for two bit host. It helps more then you might think also to do this. It adds much robustness, and prevents things like your mail bouncing when your one server has a glitch.