I'm sure it's simple but...

[Kevin Darcy]

Ted Wood wrote:

> I recently began administering bind for twu.edu and have been requested to
> make a number of domains point to www.twu.edu and I have two questions.
>
> 1. Do I have to actually create zone files for each one or is there a way to
> do it with cnames or some other shortcut?

You have to create zonefiles for anything that is delegated to you. If, for
example, twudallas.org is delegated to you, then you'll need to create a
zonefile for it. If, on the other hand, all you want to do is point a name in a
zone you already control, e.g. foo.bar.twu.edu, to www.twu.edu, or to the
address to which that name resolves, then you don't need a separate zone for
that -- just add the appropriate A record or CNAME to the twu.edu zonefile.

> 2. How do you point an ip address at just a domain name, ie: twudallas.org,
> as opposed to something like www.twudallas.org?

(I assume you meant point the name at the address, not point the address at the
name, which would be "reverse DNS", a whole different beast entirely).

The name of a zone cannot be an alias. So while it would be possible to make
www.twudallas.org an alias for www.twu.edu, your only choice for twudallas.org
is to add an A record with that name, to the twudallas.org zonefile, pointing
directly to the address to which www.twu.edu resolves.


- Kevin