dissolved
asked on
WHOIS question
1. Are all of the name servers listed in your WHOIS authortative for your domain?
2. If they are listed in your WHOIS, this means they are all primary name servers right ? (not secondaries?) Or......is one a primary and one a secondary?
3. From the plethora of online DNS stuff I've read: Primary nameservers have an SOA for your domain. Secondary servers do not.
Do secondary servers have primary Forward Lookup Zones? Here's an example. At home, i host my own DNS server (dissovledz.com). It is the primary name server for my domain. I have no additional name servers. If I were to create another name server at another location......should this be another primary nameserver or should it be a secondary? Should it be a primary forward lookup zone in this server or secondary lookup zone (you see where I am confused?)
thanks
2. If they are listed in your WHOIS, this means they are all primary name servers right ? (not secondaries?) Or......is one a primary and one a secondary?
3. From the plethora of online DNS stuff I've read: Primary nameservers have an SOA for your domain. Secondary servers do not.
Do secondary servers have primary Forward Lookup Zones? Here's an example. At home, i host my own DNS server (dissovledz.com). It is the primary name server for my domain. I have no additional name servers. If I were to create another name server at another location......should this be another primary nameserver or should it be a secondary? Should it be a primary forward lookup zone in this server or secondary lookup zone (you see where I am confused?)
thanks
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
I type way too slow ;)
ASKER
ok thanks guys. so:
-every name listed in WHOIS is authoritative.
-you are only allowed one primary server (w/ SOA). The rest must be secondary (i read this in an RFC just now)
I guess where I'm confused is when it comes to the Primary zones (master) and Secondary Zones (slave). I do in fact understand the concept of primary and secondary servers. Like you guys were saying, secondary DNS server is like having a backup domain controller.
If I were to create a secondary server for dissolvedz.com, it would not be in a primary zone (aka : master zone) correct? Let's say I am going to create another DNS server from scratch. And when I went to configure it, I would specify SECONDARY ZONE for dissolvez.com. This way, no SOA record would be present and the SECONDARY ZONE (aka slave) would get its transfer from the primary NS at my house. This is where I'm confused. But I think I am correct?
-every name listed in WHOIS is authoritative.
-you are only allowed one primary server (w/ SOA). The rest must be secondary (i read this in an RFC just now)
I guess where I'm confused is when it comes to the Primary zones (master) and Secondary Zones (slave). I do in fact understand the concept of primary and secondary servers. Like you guys were saying, secondary DNS server is like having a backup domain controller.
If I were to create a secondary server for dissolvedz.com, it would not be in a primary zone (aka : master zone) correct? Let's say I am going to create another DNS server from scratch. And when I went to configure it, I would specify SECONDARY ZONE for dissolvez.com. This way, no SOA record would be present and the SECONDARY ZONE (aka slave) would get its transfer from the primary NS at my house. This is where I'm confused. But I think I am correct?
That sounds right. It's mainly just the different terms that are confusing.
Master and Slave are zone file types.
Primary and Secondary are Name Server roles.
ASKER
so:
primary name server has master zones for dissolvedz.com
secondary name server has slave zones for dissovledz.com
I think I get it now. When you set up a name server for a domain and specify "MASTER ZONE", this means that THIS name server will be THE primary name server for the domain.
Not trying to beat this to death, but can I get another verification on that kind sirs ? :-D
primary name server has master zones for dissolvedz.com
secondary name server has slave zones for dissovledz.com
I think I get it now. When you set up a name server for a domain and specify "MASTER ZONE", this means that THIS name server will be THE primary name server for the domain.
Not trying to beat this to death, but can I get another verification on that kind sirs ? :-D
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
thanks! microsoft likes making things confusing with their "Primary zone and secondary zone" terminology
thanks again guys
thanks again guys
Yeah, don't I know it ;)
Definition of Terms:
Primary - Start of Authority for the Domain, provides Authoritative Answers for it's own domain.
Secondary - Authoritative for the Domain (but not the Start of Authority), will have a Name Server record in the Forward Lookup zone.
Master - A Zone File Type, Master allows Read and Write access.
Slave - A Zone File Type, Slave allows Read access only - Zone file is transferred from the Master
1. Yep
2 & 3. Primary is the Start of Authority for the Domain, Secondary traditionally holds a Slave copy of the domain and is included in the Name Server list for the Domain so at least one name server is available to service requests.
Still, only one server gets to be Start of Authority.
Basically, if the DNS is included in the Name Server List (i.e. it has an NS Record in the Lookup Zones) then the server can provide an Authoritative answer for the domain.
The Rest. Secondary Servers can have Master Forward Lookup Zones, but this means you'd have to manually update two seperate servers. The Slave zone type removes this problem since it just performs a Zone transfer from the Master.
If you run an Active Directory Integrated DNS talk of Master and Slave zones becomes redundant.
Active Directory Integrated DNS zones are all Master Zones (AD Integrated DNS is known as Multi-Master DNS). This means all AD Integrated zones are Read / Write access, which allows them to accept and replicate updates to other DNS Servers via normal AD Replication.
Hope that all makes some kind of sense.