asked on

How do I set up GoDaddy to point to my own DNS Server

Hi,

I am a developer and have been playing around with IT related stuff of late. I need a basic understanding of the steps involved in hosting my own DNS. I have a registered domain at GoDaddy and am running a virtual instance of Windows Server 2008 at home. I want to host my own DNS from home and point the GoDaddy nameservers to my home network. The site I want to host is not for public purposes but for internal development case studies at work so I do not really care about uptime or any sort of usability issue. In other words I know that managing my own DNS wouldn't be something I would do if I had a mission critical website to host. This is for pure lab testing. Could someone provide me some resources or links to sites that would help me understand how I could go about setting up my own DNS server using Windows Server 2008 and what exactly needs to be configured at GoDaddy in order for the public to be re-directed to my home server when they visit <mywebsite>.com

I'm new to this and need a basic set of steps that would guide me through setting up an DNS server at home and enabling me to host a simple .aspx page on my domain that can be seen to the public if anyone visits my domain. Again, the site is not important to me and is merely a test for my understanding of Server technologies and how DNS setups are configured.

Thanks a ton.

placebo69a

To learn how to manage your GoDaddy domain please read this article.
To learn how to setup DNS on your virtual 2008 server please read this article.
To learn more about DNS in general I recommend the Wikipedia article.
Let me know if this helps. :)

cranialsurge

ASKER

Hi placebo69a,
Thanks for those links they helped me get started. I have configured Windows Server 2008 (which I run as a virtual instance using Virtual PC 2007 on my Vista box) as follows:-

Installed the DNS role
Created a forward lookupzone (mydomain.com)
Created Nameserver (name.mydomain.com) and assigned it the internal IP: 192.168.0.191 (home network)
Created a host(A) record: "www" i.e. www.mydomain.com and assigned it 192.168.0.191
Configured my router to direct all HTTP, HTTPs, FTP and DNS requests to 192.168.0.191 (this is the internal IP my virtual server is using) and I am hosting a web server on the same server too.

Now when I went to the Nameservers list at GoDaddy they are put up as NS57.DOMAINCONTROL.COM & NS58DOMAINCONTROL.COM. Do i change these to name.mydomain.com I'm kinda confused at this point. I tried doing this but it gave me a "un-registered servers" error message. Also it is mandatory for me to provide two nameservers. Am I editing the right information or should I be just updating the IP addresses for GoDaddy's entries for Host records to point to my external IP (98.208.x.x) which should route the requests to my internal virtual server ?

Pugglewuggle

The main problem is that you have put in the private IP of your computer. You need to get a static public IP address from your ISP and then change the A record to whatever that address is.
Once you get this setup, forward ports UDP 53 and TCP 53 in your router/firewall to your DNS server.
Address like 192.168.x.x don't work on the internet. Never. They are a special type of address called a private address.
Just put your server in 2 times. I have mine setup this way with Go Daddy. If that doesn't work, give them a call and they'll enter it twice for you.
I recommend for this you setup another domain, dedicated to DNS hosting. On that domain, setup just A records pointing to your DNS server.
Then, on all other domains you want to host DNS for, just change the NS records to the DNS address of your DNS server.
Also, make sure you create a forward lookup zone for each domain you host DNS for.
Cheers! Let me know if you have any questions!

cranialsurge

ASKER

Thanks, I am aware of the internal IP ranges and that my router propogates them using NAT for my internal network in order to support multiple devices on it. I have entered my virtual server's internal address (192.168.x.x) in the entries for "Nameserver" and "Host(A)" records while configuring Windows Server 2008 and have routed all requests to port 53 (UDP & TCP) to my virtual server.
On GoDaddy I have not specified internal addresses, I have put in my external addresses but there is something I am confused about. On GoDaddy's Domain Manager page, when you need to edit Nameservers (e.g. NS57.DOMAINCONTROL.COM) there is no place to specify an IP address, just a name. So what I did was the following:-

Specified <virtualserver name>.<mydomain>.com (it gave me an error saying that this was an unregistered domain. So I left the nameservers untouched
Went to "Total DNS control" and updated the following records to route to my external IP:-
- Host (@) : 98.208.x.x
- CNAME(www): @

Now when I type www.mydomain.com ... it routes me correctly to my webpage but that is not because DNS is configured properly it is because all HTTP requests are routed by my router to my web server which is also the same virtual machine I am using for my DNS server. Again, I know this is not at all recommended but I am purely experimenting with things here.
What am I missing here ? Internal addresses for my virtual machine (i.e. 192.168.x.x) have been specified only on the virtual machine itself(not on GoDaddy) and I cannot help doing that because when I create a nameserver entry and a host record using the DNS manager in Windows Server 2008 using my external ip (98.208.x.x) it automatically resolves that address to my DHCP reserved internal virtual machine address (192.168.x.x). These internal addresses are just for the VM. All external traffic is routed correctly by my router to my VM. I am having a problem specifying the nameservers on GoDaddy. I'm just a noob when it comes to networking .... kinda lame I know :p

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Pugglewuggle

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

cranialsurge

ASKER

Thanks a ton mate. Appreciate the guidance :)