Having my own hostname

You'll have to set up your own DNS with something like PowerDNS or BIND and point your domains to those nameservers. You're gonna want to make sure they are properly secured though and have a few nameservers (at least 2, but Linode has 5 for example), because if you only have 1 and it drops no one will be able to resolve your domains.

You can sync multiple nameservers with for example a MySQL backend as suggested here: http://visei.com/2011/08/multiple-dns-s … plication/">http://visei.com/2011/08/multiple-dns-servers-with-powerdns-and-mysql-replication/

Good luck,

So do you really think you're losing clients or revenue because you don't have your own "branded" name servers?

Bwahahahahahahaha.

End users can't spell D N S, let alone tell you what it stands for or what it does.

You're worrying about NOTHING.

Running your own name servers (more accurately - keeping your own name servers secure) is major PITA - and for mere "branding" is in no way, shape, or form, worth it.

Thanks for the replies. I understand the argument against it especially with the reliability and security.

I am sorry if its a stupid question but Isn't there any 3rd party service which let me achieve it easily without much fuss ? I just don't want random client know the word linode if I tell him to update their name servers.

Vonskippy is right when he says people won't notice the hostnames of your name servers.

However you can add your hostnames to the linode nameservers if you really want to and you don't have to run your own DNS servers to do it. Add ns1.yourdomain.com as an A ( or AAAA ) record in your DNS records and give it the IP address of ns1.linode.com. Repeat for ns2, and so on. Now tell whoever you registered yourdomain.com with to query ns1.yourdomain.com, ns2.yourdomain.com, etc as the nameservers for your domain. Make sure your registrar uses glue records or nobody will be able to resolve anything from your domain.

Now write a script that checks periodically if any of the linode nameservers change IP so you can update your DNS records, and your registrar's glue records again.

The better approach is to just use linode's DNS servers. If you are trying to hide the fact you are hosted at linode it won't work in any case, anyone can whois your IP address and see linode mentioned.

Thanks a ton sednet !

Can I then use ns1.linode.com and ns1.mydomain.com interchangeably ? Right ?

@sami1255:

Can I then use ns1.linode.com and ns1.mydomain.com interchangeably ? Right ?
Except now you've added a ton of overhead (ok, not really a ton) to each DNS lookup your clients make, plus a bunch (yes, a bunch) of admin overhead to make sure everything stays up to date and working - cause when it stops - your clients won't be happy not being able to browse the web, except now they KNOW exactly who to blame because it's YOUR nameservers they're pointed to.

Overall, from the tech and from the business side, it's just a bad idea.

I had the same question and I had found an earlier thread too.

My motive of getting a "ns1.mydomain.com" name server was this: I wouldn't have to tell the Domain registrar to update their information every time I changed hosts. But from what I see, it looks they have do have to change things no matter, because they need the new IP address (the glue?). Is that right?

Secondly: It looks like a custom name server cannot be done without using paid services. Correct?

In any case, if its a big hassle, I should just do the norm and use ns1.linode.com etc.

> It looks like a custom name server cannot be done without using paid services. Correct?
I never got myself to learn proper linux networking but if I can achieve custom nameserver and use linode as my host I am willing to pay extra. Can someone elaborate on this bit ?

Thanks

@vonskippy:

Except now you've added a ton of overhead (ok, not really a ton) to each DNS lookup your clients make

It's added zero DNS overhead. In the normal, recommended scheme, assuming we are resolving for www.yourdomain.com:

The user client ( the customer ) asks their local DNS server to resolve www.yourdomain.com into an IP.

The client side DNS server will query a root DNS server to find the correct nameserver for www.yourdomain.com.

The root nameserver doesn't know so redirects to a '.com' nameserver.

The client side DNS server asks a '.com' nameserver and gets referred to a Linode nameserver.

The client side DNS server asks the Linode nameserver and gets an authoritative answer.

In my renamed DNS server scheme:

The user client ( the customer ) asks their local DNS server to resolve www.yourdomain.com into an IP.

The client side DNS server will query a root DNS server to find the correct nameserver for www.yourdomain.com.

The root nameserver doesn't know so redirects to a '.com' nameserver.

The client side DNS server asks a '.com' nameserver and gets referred to ns1.yourdomain.com, which is the same actual server as ns1.linode.com.

The client side DNS server asks the Linode nameserver and gets an authoritative answer.

There is no different in amount of DNS traffic at all except that the whole scheme will fall apart of the .com nameservers don't have a glue record for ns1.yourdomain.com.

@vonskippy:

, plus a bunch (yes, a bunch) of admin overhead to make sure everything stays up to date and working - cause when it stops - your clients won't be happy not being able to browse the web, except now they KNOW exactly who to blame because it's YOUR nameservers they're pointed to.

This is fair criticism. What I suggested was a way that it would be technically possible to use what appear to be your own nameservers. This comes at a cost in manageability which should be balanced against the business requirements. Sometimes business requirements are irrational.

In just about every place I've ever worked I see random dictates from PHB types who require all sorts of things that they don't fully understand. I could see one of these types who knows next to nothing about DNS coming up with the requirement that the DNS servers you use must have the company name in them then refusing a budget to buy a few cheap servers to run BIND on.

@sami1255:

> It looks like a custom name server cannot be done without using paid services. Correct?
I never got myself to learn proper linux networking but if I can achieve custom nameserver and use linode as my host I am willing to pay extra. Can someone elaborate on this bit ?

Thanks

If you want to pay extra the best way would be to buy two more low end linodes and run bind on them. Loads of people on here run their own nameservers and would be helpful with setup questions.

You can fake running your own name servers by manipulating your domain records but this comes with extra administration and extra complexity. You should only do this if you really need to, and there are no technical reasons I can see for needing too. I only ever said it was possible, not that it was a good idea.

My bad on the DNS overhead - thanks @sednet for correcting that (and for the clear explanation).

I was thinking it was redirecting each lookup, instead with this method you're just sticking your name on someone elses name server ip (which is kind of slimy - someone else does all the work and you claim it).

@vonskippy:

My bad on the DNS overhead - thanks @sednet for correcting that (and for the clear explanation).

I was thinking it was redirecting each lookup, instead with this method you're just sticking your name on someone elses name server ip (which is kind of slimy - someone else does all the work and you claim it).
Even if you ran your own nameserver, which I do…

Client looks up www.example.com; doesn't know it, so asks "com" for where to do to find "example.com", finds the nameservers (ns1.example.com, ns2.example.com), then asks "ns1.example.com" nameserver for the www.example.com address.

It's exactly the same traffic, whether you use linode nameservers, or your own.

(A second lookup for email.example.com will know to go directly to ns1.example.com because the NS record will be in the local cache).

Sorry I dont know much about domains/DNS. Just to clarify:

If I have custom name servers, and I change webhosts, does the domain registrar need new information? For example do they need the new IP addresses of the name servers?

Or is it that the only information they need is "n1.domain.com" and so when I change webhosts, the domain registrar wont have to be asked to make any changes. Correct?

@Vasudus:

Sorry I dont know much about domains/DNS. Just to clarify:

If I have custom name servers, and I change webhosts, does the domain registrar need new information? For example do they need the new IP addresses of the name servers?

Or is it that the only information they need is "n1.domain.com" and so when I change webhosts, the domain registrar wont have to be asked to make any changes. Correct?

incorrect. think about this a little further and you'll realize the chicken/egg issue. how exactly is it supposed to know where n1.domain.com is without an IP being registered? Circular dependency, which is the whole point of glue.

Sorry I'm slow in understanding this.

Ok, so you're saying that if I want the private name servers, the domain registrar needs:

A:

1. the name servers (ns1.mydomain.com) AND:

2. IP addresses of the name servers (glue)

Correct?

I just want to make sure the AND condition is there.

Just ignore everything and tell me which answer is correct.

When doing a private name server:

A. The domain registrar only needs the name servers. So they only need to know ns1.mydomain.com

B. The domain registrar needs the name servers AND the IP addresses. They need ns1.mydomain.com, AND the IP address of the name server.

A or B?

If I get the answer to this I'll understand the issue better. This was my original query as well (what do they need?)

@Vasudus:

When doing a private name server:

A. The domain registrar only needs the name servers. So they only need to know ns1.mydomain.com

B. The domain registrar needs the name servers AND the IP addresses. They need ns1.mydomain.com, AND the IP address of the name server.

A or B?
B if you are configuring domain mydomain.com (a setup often termed a vanity nameserver, where your nameserver names are beneath your own domain), A if some other domain.

That is, at your registrar, if you are configuring nameservers for a domain and you give it names for those nameservers within that domain, you have to have the IP address (the glue) at the registrar since otherwise it's a catch-22. How does it look up the name in that domain in order to look up the domain? So an entry for domain mydomain.com of ns1.mydomain.com needs to have the IP address.

If, however, those nameservers are in another domain (say, ns1.linode.com) then you're fine, and that nameserver address will be recursively looked up (since it can query an address from linode.com while attempting to identify the nameserver for mydomain.com).

You can have a mixture in the same domain too. So for example, I have a domain where ns1. has an explicit IP address, but then I also have ns1-ns5.linode.com as additional nameservers which don't need an IP address. In my case I then operate the master nameserver on my Linode with the Linode nameservers as slaves, so I get more flexible control over my DNS management but redundancy through the Linode servers without having to operate multiple servers of my own. But my domain registrar information doesn't try to hide the use of the Linode servers.

All of this is largely independent of what address you use for those nameservers, and if they are even your own machines. As pointed out in this thread, there's no problem with you assigning the IP address of Linode's servers as the glue for your vanity nameservers, as long as you accept the responsibility for manually keeping them up to date in the event that they change. Although, in that case, reverse lookups will still likely expose the use of the third party machines so if you truly want your nameservers to completely be part of your domain they will need to be machines you control (or at least fully control the DNS records for).

– David

@Vasudus:

When doing a private name server:

A. The domain registrar only needs the name servers. So they only need to know ns1.mydomain.com

B. The domain registrar needs the name servers AND the IP addresses. They need ns1.mydomain.com, AND the IP address of the name server.

A or B?

B