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Written by Larry Dearing
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Tuesday, 29 December 2009 19:27 |
So you'd like to use Custom or Private Name Servers to match your domain name? I get a lot of questions about this, so without explaining any real or perceived advantage to using them, we'll just take a look at the fundamentals of setting them up for your domain. Note this requires a bit of knowledge regarding the concepts of Name Servers and your domain name's DNS records.
Private (or custom) name servers are actually pretty straight forward. The main concept to keep in mind is you are not really changing name servers, you're only creating "aliases" for them and assigning this alias the same IP address of your real name servers making them actually one in the same. Below is only a conceptual guide. Plan and research your own domain registrar's and hosting provider's control panel and know exactly what you are going to do where before attempting this.
There Are Four Necessary Components For Private Name Servers
1. Registered Private Name Servers at your domain name Registrar
2. "A" Records for your Private Name Servers in your DNS zone.
3. "NS" Records in your DNS zone for your Private Name Servers
4. Optional: SOA record edited to your primary Private Name Server information
Lets take a look at each of these areas and how each component is set up and configured.
Registered Private Name Servers at your Registrar
This is the only tricky step as each registrar does this a bit differently. Go to your domain registrar and in the DNS/Domain management area look for the option to register a name server. Create your first custom name server with the same IP address of your first real name server.
Example: If your first real name server is ns1.whatever.com with an IP address of 72.18.91.14, then create your first custom name server as ns1.yourdomain.com with the same IP of 72.18.91.14. Do the same for your second custom name server and IP address. Do one for each real name server you have. Also note your don't have to use "ns1" for your custom name server, it can be "anything.yourdomain.com".
Do not actually assign them as your name servers, or change your current name servers at this point or you're domain will be down for a while. We still have some steps to complete elsewhere first.
"A" Records for your Private Name Servers in your DNS zone
Now at your DNS zone records, which will live either at your your web host or your registrar, you want to create "A" records for your new private name servers. This step is how your private name servers actually resolve to their IP addresses. In this way when queries are made of your custom name servers for your domain, they will in turn point to the IP address of the your real name servers. Create an "A" record for each of your new custom name severs, using the same IP addresses you registered them with in the above step.
"NS" Records in your DNS zone for your Private Name Servers
Now we actually assign your private name servers to your domain by creating or replacing your "real" NS records with your new custom name servers for your domain. This will be done back at your domain registrar.
Optional - SOA record edited to your primary Private Name Server information
The last step, if it is available to you is to assign your primary custom name server to report as authoritative for your zone. This sounds hard, but it is the easiest step. Simply replace the SOA record information with the correct information for your first custom name server, like "ns1.yourdomain.com". Many Registrars and web hosts do not allow this step.
I suggest you test your records along the way at my favorite DNS testing site (yes it's free) http://www.intodns.com/.
If you need some brush up on some of the terms and concepts here, see our faq section for DNS records
Our FAQ's on DNS |
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