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I've just got my first VPS server, yay! It'll primarilly be used for my own hosting (I'm a Web Application Developer) and for friends & family.

It's just been all setup fro me bare bones and I have RDP to jump on and play around. But not that I've installed the basic roles, database engine, hMailServer (not fully configured yet) etc, I've feeling slightly in over my head.

When I signed up I provided these settings:
Host name: myhostname.co.nz
NS1 Prefix: barry
NS2 Prefix: terry

I then received my two IP addresses (say):
155.255.355.555
155.255.355.556

Confusion area 1:

I think the main confusion is around DNS and how all that jazz works... I added the DNS role and follow some basic instructions from here: Install & Configure Windows DNS Service

Was I correct in following that? Is there a better tutorial out there?

Note I replaced details in the tutorial with the settings above. So the DNS Manager looks something like:

 (same as parent folder) Start of Authority (SOA) [5], barry.myhostname.co.nz., info.myhostname.co.nz. (same as parent folder) Name Server (NZ) barry.myhostname.co.nz. (same as parent folder) Name Server (NZ) terry.myhostname.co.nz. (same as parent folder) Host (A) 155.255.355.555. (same as parent folder) Mail Exchanger (MX) [10] mail.myhostname.co.nz. ftp Alias (CNAME) myhostname.co.nz. mail Host (A) 155.255.355.556. www Alias (CNAME) myhostname.co.nz.

Does that look right?

Would I basically do the same for each domain that I want to host on the VPS?

Confusion area 2:

What do I now do with my domain registrar entries for myhostname.co.nz? It's still pointing at my old shared hosting account...

Then for other sites I want hosted, I guess that the named servers will be barry.myhostname.co.nz & terry.myhostname.co.nz.

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If you need more info just ask. Sorry if the question is rather open and/or doesn't make too much sense but as I say I'm feeling slightly in over my head (first time in a while! ;-). Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Charles

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  • is your myhostname.co.nz domain registrar the same company as the old shared hosting provider? Commented Jul 8, 2009 at 10:06
  • No it's not. Domain registrar is Domainz.net.nz and shared hoster was kiwihosting.net.nz. Commented Jul 8, 2009 at 10:40

1 Answer 1

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That tutorial is pretty correct, although personally I wouldn't have created the records in the text file first, I would have used the GUI, but I guess thats up to personal preference. So yes when you add more domains you will need to create a new zone for that domain.

As for question2, as you are hosting your own domain you need to setup name server records and then change this at your registrar. So I assume from following the tutorial you already have DNS records for ns1.hyhostname.co.nz and ns2.hyhostname.co.nz, or what ever your name servers are, with two separate IP's. You need need to go to the configuration site of your registrar, in here you should have an option to set-up name servers, where you will enter the names of your name servers, and then because they are on the same domain, it will ask you for the IP of them too. Once that's done, your server will now be used for DNS. Each registrars site is different so can't really tell you exactly how to do that without knowing who it is.

When it comes to adding more domains, you can either go through the same process again at the registrar, or alternatively get them to change their name servers to the ones we just setup, this is a bit quicker as it won't ask for the IP, as they are on a seperate domain.

Looking at your zone you've added to the question, it looks good aside from the name servers, you have setup nameserver records for the two ns records, but you need to create A records for each of these name servers that map the name to an IP, as you have 2 IP's, you should use 1 IP for each nameserver A record.

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  • Hi Sam, thanks for the reply. In regards to Question 1, can you look at my edited question to see if it looks right... I guess something is astray because you mention setting up my different named servers with different IPs. I'll try your response to question 2 now. Thanks again, Charles. Commented Jul 8, 2009 at 10:35
  • See added comments to my response Commented Jul 8, 2009 at 11:24

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