DNS - DIY or 3rd Party

redmyrlin · 3 Sep 2003, 08:13 PM

Just to set the scene:
My own little email project is progressing well and I'm thinking about releasng it into the wild by facilitating sign-ups beyond my small band of testers and family users. In preparation for this I have acquired a modest number of domains. Normally I manage my DNS through ZoneEdit, but I have now gone beyond the 5 free zones allowed, so I have transfered the DNS management for my email project to mydomain.com as they have no limit on the number of zones.
I have also considered running my own DNS servers. This would give me one less point of failure and would increase the educataional content of my project.

So, the questions:

1. Has anyone any experience of mydomain.com ?

2. Any opionions on DIY DNS versus 3rd party services in general

3. If I go the DIY route should I use BIND or another DNS server? (e.g. djbdns, Oak DNS, PowerDNS)

Graeme

Werpon · 3 Sep 2003, 09:04 PM

1. No idea, sorry.

2. How do you plan to do it? Will you get two (or at least one with two IP) dedicated servers or VPS just to host your DNS? It'll cost you at least $60/month. If you are starting, you probably don't need this. EasyDNS is cheaper than that and just as reliable, if not more. Running a DNS server is risky, and if you don't need it, I'd recommend not doing it.

If you still want to do it (doing is the best way to learn), and you already have a dedicated server or VPS, you can install a DNS server in your machine and use a slave NS server; this way, the slave NS will replicate your settings and you will have two or more NS but you will only need to configure one server. Free secondary NS: www.zoneedit.com, www.easydns.net or www.granitecanyon.com, among others. Furthermore, you can use only the slave NS if you have two; the advantage of this is that your DNS server remains secret. You can read more about this at Granitecanyon; they call it "unpublished NS" or something like that.

3. BIND and Sendmail are "the buggiest daemons on Earth". While I don't run any DNS server, other admins who do it recommend djbdns (also called tinydns) as it is probably the most secure DNS server for Unix.

redmyrlin · 3 Sep 2003, 09:23 PM

Thanks for the reply Werpon.

1. that's OK.

2. I already run 3 servers (VPS), my main email server and 2 backups. The two backup machines also double as personal web site space and general development area. I got a deal on the two for $35/month. If I go the DIY route it is these two I'd use for my DNS.

3. Yeah, I'm using Exim4 and PostFix in place of Sendmail. I'd seen some good things about djbdns, so maybe, just maybe...

lukask · 3 Sep 2003, 09:40 PM

I have had a number of domains at mydomain.com, but I am in the process of moving them to Namecheap/Zoneedit.

This is primarily in order to minimize the number of sites I have to visit for managing my domains. Also the email forwarding options are inferior to Zoneedit and Namecheap, I think.

redmyrlin · 3 Sep 2003, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by lukask
I have had a number of domains at mydomain.com, but I am in the process of moving them to Namecheap/Zoneedit.

This is primarily in order to minimize the number of sites I have to visit for managing my domains. Also the email forwarding options are inferior to Zoneedit and Namecheap, I think.

So your experience with mydomain.com was OK? Did you use their registration service?

I'm not worried about rmail forwarding as I'm just using them to manage my A and MX records.

lukask · 3 Sep 2003, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by redmyrlin
So your experience with mydomain.com was OK? Did you use their registration service?

I'm not worried about rmail forwarding as I'm just using them to manage my A and MX records.

I did not use their registration services (I used joker.com, and now namecheap).
I think did not have any problems with their url forwarding services (that was all I used from them, apart from the email forwarding service; did not use DNS services).

3 Sep 2003, 08:13 PM	#1
redmyrlin Master of the @ Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Scotland Posts: 1,409	DNS - DIY or 3rd Party Just to set the scene: My own little email project is progressing well and I'm thinking about releasng it into the wild by facilitating sign-ups beyond my small band of testers and family users. In preparation for this I have acquired a modest number of domains. Normally I manage my DNS through ZoneEdit, but I have now gone beyond the 5 free zones allowed, so I have transfered the DNS management for my email project to mydomain.com as they have no limit on the number of zones. I have also considered running my own DNS servers. This would give me one less point of failure and would increase the educataional content of my project. So, the questions: 1. Has anyone any experience of mydomain.com ? 2. Any opionions on DIY DNS versus 3rd party services in general 3. If I go the DIY route should I use BIND or another DNS server? (e.g. djbdns, Oak DNS, PowerDNS) Graeme

3 Sep 2003, 09:04 PM	#2
Werpon Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Spain, EU Posts: 166	1. No idea, sorry. 2. How do you plan to do it? Will you get two (or at least one with two IP) dedicated servers or VPS just to host your DNS? It'll cost you at least $60/month. If you are starting, you probably don't need this. EasyDNS is cheaper than that and just as reliable, if not more. Running a DNS server is risky, and if you don't need it, I'd recommend not doing it. If you still want to do it (doing is the best way to learn), and you already have a dedicated server or VPS, you can install a DNS server in your machine and use a slave NS server; this way, the slave NS will replicate your settings and you will have two or more NS but you will only need to configure one server. Free secondary NS: www.zoneedit.com, www.easydns.net or www.granitecanyon.com, among others. Furthermore, you can use only the slave NS if you have two; the advantage of this is that your DNS server remains secret. You can read more about this at Granitecanyon; they call it "unpublished NS" or something like that. 3. BIND and Sendmail are "the buggiest daemons on Earth". While I don't run any DNS server, other admins who do it recommend djbdns (also called tinydns) as it is probably the most secure DNS server for Unix. Last edited by Werpon : 3 Sep 2003 at 09:12 PM.

3 Sep 2003, 09:23 PM	#3
redmyrlin Master of the @ Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Scotland Posts: 1,409	Thanks for the reply Werpon. 1. that's OK. 2. I already run 3 servers (VPS), my main email server and 2 backups. The two backup machines also double as personal web site space and general development area. I got a deal on the two for $35/month. If I go the DIY route it is these two I'd use for my DNS. 3. Yeah, I'm using Exim4 and PostFix in place of Sendmail. I'd seen some good things about djbdns, so maybe, just maybe...

3 Sep 2003, 09:40 PM	#4
lukask Essential Contributor Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Haarlem, Netherlands Posts: 311	I have had a number of domains at mydomain.com, but I am in the process of moving them to Namecheap/Zoneedit. This is primarily in order to minimize the number of sites I have to visit for managing my domains. Also the email forwarding options are inferior to Zoneedit and Namecheap, I think.