Re: set domain name in Debian `
On Fri, 11 Nov 2016 14:47:48 -0700
Glenn English <ghe2001@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Nov 11, 2016, at 1:52 PM, Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org>
> > wrote:
> >
> > So... what are you actually trying to do? Be very specific.
>
> Well, I'd like the domain name to be the same everywhere. hostname -f
> and whois <IP> (that currently returns the ISP's info) and /etc/hosts
> and host <IP> and a DNS lookup and everything else I can't think of
> right now should all report the same thing: the name of the domain
> I'm trying to set up this server for.
>
> As yet, I'm looking at hostname -f (plain hostname gets the host
> right), and ping'ing and SSH'ing using /etc/hosts (that works). I've
> set my local DNS to look first at hosts, then at DNS.
>
> The DNS server isn't set up yet. mailname is just the host. postfix
> is the SMTP server -- editing its config doesn't seem to do anything.
>
> I've moved to a new domain, and I copied lots of data from the old
> server. The domain name I see is that of the old server.
>
I think we still do not have the terms of reference straight.
First of all, it's a server. Who is it serving? People within the local
network only, people out on the Net, or both?
You're replacing an older server. If you are serving to the Net, are
you on a new ISP connection or still the one which has worked until
now? I.e., has the public IP address and any external DNS changed?
Are there DNS servers out on the Net which hold information for this
domain? If so, using a local DNS server with records for other local
hostnames on the same domain becomes problematic, and the question of
what IP address is returned if you ask for the usual hostname of your
public IP address may be dependent on the behaviour of your router.
To sum up, we need to know who sees this domain, and from where, and
for what services.
Internet email, for example, needs your mail server to know the domain,
and for a public DNS MX record for that domain to point to a hostname
which resolves to your public IP address, and not much more. A server
can host many email domains, none of which need to be related to the
domain in which the server lives, if any. A public web server might
need to know the domain name, and again may serve multiple domains, but
for simple sites, it will not need to know. A computer in a private
network, even when providing public Internet services, does not
inherently belong to any domain, but it may be administratively
convenient if it is assigned one. It may well have a hostname
completely different to any hostname which resolves to it from the Net.
--
Joe
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