dns help

[Kevin Darcy]

lolly40 at hotmail.com wrote:

> hi
> i want to be able to host my own dns server , currently i am paying an
> isp .
> i need the steps i would take to do this pls, do i need to register
> somewhere to be able to host DNS

If your domain is already registered, you shouldn't need to re-register
it. However, you will need to change the contact information for the
domain and, when the time comes, change the identity of the nameservers
serving it. Most registries have a notion of an "administrative" contact,
who isn't necessarily the lead technical contact, but has the power to
change information in the domain record. You want to become the
administrative contact. Fastest and easiest way is to get your ISP to
submit the contact-change to the registrar. But they may not want to,
because it represents a loss of business for them. If things get ugly,
you may need to go straight to the registrar, identify yourself as the
domain owner somehow, and force the change yourself.

You should probably leave the technical contact as your ISP until you
actually have your nameservers up and running and are ready to switch
over to them. Otherwise, you may get calls and complaints about problems
with your ISP's nameservers.

As for the steps involved in actually setting up your nameservers (yes,
you need at least two), I would recommend some general guide on
DNS and/or BIND, like the O'Reilly _DNS_and_BIND_ book, currently in its
Fourth Edition. Note that you need to have your nameservers up and
running with the domain before you switch the "nameservers" information
in the domain record, but changing other information in the domain record
can and probably should be done in parallel with setting up the
nameservers.


- Kevin