Link to "Add DNS Records" broken, additional questions
I'm slowly working my way forward on the article "Email with PostFix, Dovecot and MySQL".
The second section "Configure DNS" seems ambiguous to me. The first line states "When you are ready…", but says nothing about determining if one is ready or not. I assumed that I won't be "ready" until, at the least, PostFix, DoveCot and MySQL were installed. On that basis I moved on to the next section and updated my "hosts" file as described.
But in the next section "Install SSL Certificate", DNS-related issues arise once again. The section links us to "Install an SSL certificate with Certbot". The "Before You Begin" section of this latter tutorial has the following link address.
https://www.linode.com/docs/websites/hosting-a-website/#add-dns-records
But the "hosting-a-website" tutorial does not contain the "#add-dns-records" tag, as far as I can determine.
Where do you recommend going to for this information? I'm thinking the following link might be a good correction. Can you confirm?
https://www.linode.com/docs/platform/manager/dns-manager/#add-dns-records
I'm in the process migrating to Linode. Since I am still hazy on what happens when, I do worry about disrupting my current ISP if certain acts are done to the DNS. I am guessing that as long as the nameservers on my current ISP remain unchanged, my current ISP service will not be disrupted. Can you confirm this? Will changing the old ISP nameservers be the final flipping of the switch?
Thanks!
2 Replies
CertBot will need the DNS record(s) for your web site if you use "already existent webroot" validation method (which I personally find more convenient than DNS TXT validation or the stand-alone server).
Those are DNS A / AAAA records, e.g. www.mysite.com -> A record -> 1.2.3.4 (and AAAA is for IPv6).
It will not need mail server records, i.e. DNS MX records (which "point to" your mail server(s) for the domain).
And so I would recommend this order:
- Configure your DNS A / AAAA records
- Obtain your Let's Encrypt certificates and install them into your web site and IMAP and SMTP mail servers (Dovecot, Postfix, … or Cyrus, or Exim…)
- Configure DNS MX records to start collecting incoming mail with your new SMTP server and serving it up to mail apps with your new IMAP server
While you're there in DNS settings, I would recommend configuring SPF to help outgoing mail avoid being classified as spam. And maybe set up DKIM as well for same purpose.
Thanks for the road map!
Running into problems, though with the first step. The web server I installed no longer works, and I got an error message with the CertBot install (should have retested the web server before attempting the CertBot install, I assume).
I'm opening a ticket with Linode. Hope they respond soon, and that they will consider this within the range of things they help with.