Noob Questions

@shmay:

I'm trying to figure out how DNS Manager works.

I have a domain name with namecheap. I point the DNS to which IP address? The one under the network column in the Linode Manager page?
No, you should use ns1.linode.com, ns2.linode.com, ns3.linode.com and ns4.linode.com.

@shmay:

And once I have that figured out, what do I do in the DNS manager? Would I use ' Import a zone from a remote nameserver' or 'Add a new domain zone'?
"Add a new domain zone".

@shmay:

And what would I put under SOA email?
Your email address. Probably the one you used to buy the domain and have in your whois records.

@shmay:

Anything else I should know?
Probably, but I can't think of what. :P

@shmay:

Apologies if these are stupid questions, and thanks for any help.
:)

They're good questions. I have one for you: do you have working DNS now, and if so, why are you moving it? I'm serious, because I think you're going to go through what we might call a "learning experience", so make sure you think it's worth it.

Anyway, some answers:

First, you point the registrar entry (at namecheap) towards the linode name servers, which are listed in the "NS Records" table in the Linode DNS manager for your domain. These will be of the form 'ns1.linode.com', NOT your domain name.

In the DNS manager, you'll need an A record pointing at your linode's IP, which is indeed the IP in the "Network" column of the Linode Manager overview. Oh, you'll want "Add a new domain zone", unless you have an existing working complicated setup, in which case I refer you back to the first paragraph :-)

Your SOA e-mail should be an address that reaches you but is outside your domain and ideally doesn't require your linode to be operational. Gmail, for example. (I would put the address in my domain registration to the same address.)

Thanks guys.

@SteveG:

They're good questions. I have one for you: do you have working DNS now, and if so, why are you moving it? I'm serious, because I think you're going to go through what we might call a "learning experience", so make sure you think it's worth it.

What do you mean?

double post.

Okay, now under DNS manager, I have:

ns1.linode.com mydomain.com

ns2.linode.com mydomain.com

ns3.linode.com mydomain.com

ns4.linode.com mydomain.com

And in namecheap:

ns1.mydomain.com the ip under 'network'

ns2.mydomain.com the ip under 'network'

But when I go to mydomain.com, it always fails to open.

What is the A/AAAA part? Why is the top row's host column empty?

You may want to read something like this to help you get some of the basic concepts straight. It can really help before rushing in.

You got it a little backwards :lol:

1) In namecheap, set your nameservers to:

ns1.linode.com

ns2.linode.com

ns3.linode.com

ns4.linode.com

Do this under either "Domain name server setup" or "Transfer DNS to webhost", one of which will appear near the top of the menu. DO NOT use "nameserver registration".)

2) In Linode DNS Manager, make sure that your NS records are:

ns1.linode.com mydomain.com

ns2.linode.com mydomain.com

ns3.linode.com mydomain.com

ns4.linode.com mydomain.com

(You got this right… because these records are automatically produced.)

3) In the A/AAAA record,

Host name: (blank)

IP Address: your linode's ip address

TTL: default

(The host name is supposed to be blank unless the record is for a subdomain.)

4) "www.mydomain.com" is actually a subdomain, so you need a second record for it:

Host name: www

IP Address: your linode's ip address

TTL: default

(This is probably already automatically produced.)

This way, both mydomain.com and www.mydomain.com will point to your linode. Wait a day or two for the namecheap settings to propagate, and then if you still have a problem, that would be internal to your server.

@shmay:

Thanks guys.

@SteveG:

They're good questions. I have one for you: do you have working DNS now, and if so, why are you moving it? I'm serious, because I think you're going to go through what we might call a "learning experience", so make sure you think it's worth it.

What do you mean?

Well, this gonna be a little harsh, and I was trying to be nice, but since you ask: From your questions, you obviously don't understand how DNS works, or what the different records mean, and how they interlink. And in your most recent post, where you put " ns1.mydomain.com" in your namecheap NS server entries, even though I explicitly said to use the ns?.linode.com entries there: it doesn't work that way. So my point about the "learning experience" was that it's going to take a few tries to get it right, and if you had an existing working setup, why mess with it? OTOH, now that you're in it, I'll point how it's not that complicated, and you will soon have a working setup.

And to be 100% clear: I'm NOT trying to pick on you for not knowing everything about DNS. We can't all be experts on everything - I'm certainly not. I'm not even an expert on DNS: I know just enough to do basic setup and debugging. All this stuff is not magic (except SCSI), it can be learned. It just can take a little while, which is frustrating when you're trying to get past the basics and do something fun.

(I see that hybinet has posted detailed fixes in a more polite form than I could :-))

Hybinet – Thank you very much, that helped enormously. I think I have it all squared away now.

Steve -- I'll gladly hear your 'harsh words' as it means I'll learn something.

If you think this is bad, wait till I try and deploy my Rails app :)