Re: on linux mail, dns, http server

[Helge Hafting <helge.hafting@daldata.no>]

>   hi !  my only experience w/ linux involves only machines w/ dynamic IP's and i was wondering whether someone can help me w/ a few questions when you really have a domain of ur own.
> 
> 1.  i am setting up a box w/ a static IP (say a.b.c.20).  and w/ a just registered domain (say kewldude.com) .  but when i do a _$whois kewldude.com _ , or whois from internic, part of what i get is this,
> 
>    Domain servers in listed order:
>    NS1.MYISP-DNS.NET           a.b.c.3
>    NS2.MYISP-DNS.NET           a.b.c.4
> 
> Question : Does this mean that my ISP will have to make a pointer on their DNS servers to me (a.b.c.20) ?

That is a solution - if your link is always up.
Or you could get an entry for your static ip in their DNS server,
pointing "kewldude.com" to your machine.
> 
> 2. During the debian setup/install procedure, theirs that part where the program will ask for the "machines name" and then the "domain name".  What's the right way of answering this anyway?
>    (a.) machines name is "kewldude" and domain is "com"
> or  (b.) machines name is "some_name" and domain name is "kewldude.com"
Your domain is kewldude.com
I believe you could simply name your machine kewldude, but
the more common way is to use another name, so you'll
get machine.kewldude.com  The advantage here is obvious if you
ever need to expand, using more machines and more ip addresses.
You can then have machine2.kewldude.com, machine3.kewldude.com and so on.
A common way of setting up a mail/web server is to take advantage
of the fact that you may create any amount of names (and subdomains)
in your domain.  A typical configuration would contain www.kewldude.com
and mail.kewldude.com  They will all point to the same ip address
for now, but it will be real easy if you ever need to split
it on two servers.  These things are easier if you run your
own nameserver so you won't have to contact the ISP everytime you
change something.

I recommend getting some literature on DNS and email so you'll
get a good understanding of the concepts.  People will be happy to help 
out with details, but you should know for yourself what you want to do.

Helge Hafting