From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Aug 29 14:21:28 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.FreeBSD.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2D35337B400 for ; Thu, 29 Aug 2002 14:21:26 -0700 (PDT) Received: from smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk [81.2.69.218]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C504343E4A for ; Thu, 29 Aug 2002 14:21:24 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: from happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk ([IPv6:::1]) by smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (8.12.5/8.12.5) with ESMTP id g7TLLNmg034875; Thu, 29 Aug 2002 22:21:23 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: (from matthew@localhost) by happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (8.12.5/8.12.5/Submit) id g7TLLEwd034874; Thu, 29 Aug 2002 22:21:14 +0100 (BST) Date: Thu, 29 Aug 2002 22:21:14 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman To: Joshua Lokken Cc: FreeBSD quest Subject: Re: your mail Message-ID: <20020829212114.GA34286@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophi> References: <73BACB51FD64GBYX4YMLRNXUNHFONRP.3d6e51c0@inspectorbox> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <73BACB51FD64GBYX4YMLRNXUNHFONRP.3d6e51c0@inspectorbox> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.1i Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Thu, Aug 29, 2002 at 09:54:24AM -0700, Joshua Lokken wrote: > I am running 4.6.2 release on a Pentium 150 box as a gateway/firewall. The > same box also runs apache2. I am confused about a few things. I am > assigned an IP via DHCP, and I use dns2go for dynamic DNS. I guess my > problem is keeping things straight. For example, now that I have > joshualokken.com, and am using dns2go, do I use their name servers > exclusively, or do I still need the name servers assigned by my ISP? DNS servers come in two types --- or should do in a well administered network. The first type is an "authoritative" server: one that has the data for a number of zones loaded into it and can give definitive answers to queries about those zones. The second is a "recursive" or "caching" server. This exists to look up addresses on behalf of the user. The difference is that an authoritative server should answer only the queries about the zones it knows about, whereas a recursive server will (as the name suggests) trace it's way from the root servers through the various different top level domain servers and so on down until it finds the required answer. Ideally a box running a name server should fit one or other of those styles, but not both. So the answer is that you need to use both sets of servers: the 'dns2go' machines are the authoritative servers that hold the A record corresponding to your domain which you have to update whenever your DHCP lease changes, whereas your ISP's servers are the recursive servers that you use for your everyday DNS needs. Cheers, Matthew -- Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks Savill Way Marlow Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message