Almost There

[jacobhenry]

Ok, this is how I did it:
I register my domains with DirectI. They also offer "Managed DNS".

First, I registered a domain that I use for technical issues only, not for web sites or emails (hostmu.com). For that domain I bought "Managed DNS" and created the A records ns1 - ns6.hostmu.com.
Right now, I use ns5.hostmu.com as primary DNS server, ns6.hostmu.com as secondary DNS. Both run ISPConfig, and I create all records using ISPConfig.
Whenever I want to register a new domain, I create all needed DNS records (A records: www and mail, MX record: mail) before I register the domain. Then I go to DirectI and register the domain, and when I register it, the web interface allows me to put in up to four name servers, so I fill in ns5.hostmu.com and ns6.hostmu.com.
Voilà! That's it! :)

I registered my domain at 1&1. They offer "DNS Management".
First, I registered a domain that I will use for technical issues only, not for web sites or emails (scratchcohosting.com). "DNS Management" was free, so I created an A record that pointed my domain (scratchcohosting.com) to my ip address (12.205.45.114). I left the MX record assigned to 1&1. Then I created a subdomain (ns1.scratchcohosting.com) and I also pointed this to my ip address (12.205.45.114) again leaving the MX record to 1&1. One name server will have to do for now, since I only have one computer running each component of ISPConfig.

Once everything is settled to my IP address, Will I be able to set up my own domain (scratchco.com) with ISPConfig? And if so what will I use as my A and MX records inside ISPConfig? Does it matter what additional Nameserver I use while configuring my domain (scratchco.com) inside 1&1?

I am also concerned with my /etc/resolv.conf file. Is there anything wrong?


search insightbb.com
nameserver 192.168.2.1
nameserver NS1.gradeahosting.com
nameserver NS2.gradeahosting.com

[falko]

Once everything is settled to my IP address, Will I be able to set up my own domain (scratchco.com) with ISPConfig?
Yes, but you must tell your registrar that ns1.scratchcohosting.com is the authoritative name server for scratchco.com.

And if so what will I use as my A and MX records inside ISPConfig?
Simply create a zone "scratchco.com", and as A records you create "www" and "mail", and regarding the MX record, you leave the host name blank and enter mail.scratchco.com as mail server.

Does it matter what additional Nameserver I use while configuring my domain (scratchco.com) inside 1&1?Maybe you can put in ns1.scratchcohosting.com twice?

I am also concerned with my /etc/resolv.conf file. Is there anything wrong?
Yes: You must always use IP addresses as name servers in /etc/resolv.conf! Like this:

domain insightbb.com
nameserver 145.253.2.75
nameserver 193.174.32.18
nameserver 194.25.0.60

You shold also have a look here: http://www.howtoforge.com/traditional_dns_howto and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_system to get a deeper understanding how this DNS thing works.

[jacobhenry]

Could someone IM me to help me set up a domain inside the ISPConfig Interface. My aim screenname is CUB2004VA . I am just digging myself a hole.

I have my (hosting) domain name pointing to my IP address which allows me to log onto ISPConfig just fine. I don't understand how ISPConfig will know the difference between my hosting domain and any other domain if they are both just pointing to my IP address? And what was the purpose of configuring a second ip address in the perfect setup?


auto eth0:0
iface eth0:0 inet static
address 192.168.0.101
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.0.0
broadcast 192.168.0.255
gateway 192.168.0.1

[jacobhenry]

I have a hard time explaining in words the problems I am having so I am going to explain it with pictures.

First I will create a 'New Site' and then go to the Records it creates automatically

Here I chose to have ISPConfig Create DNS and Create DNS-MX Records

97

Then I added the Co-Domains for scratchco.com and mail.scratchco.com

98

After filling out all the information for the 'New Site' I went over to the 'DNS Manager' tab and a new record for scratch.com was created.

The second tab 'Options' had a spot for two nameservers which confuses me. I used 1and1.com's 'DNS Management' to use my own nameserver ns1.scratchcohosting.com. so what values would I use for the nameservers in ISPConfig?

100

The last tab 'Record' also confused me. The A Records looked fine assuming the private IP addresses are ok.

101

but the MX Record used mail.scratchcohosting.com instead of mail.scratchco.com. Is this correct? if not what do i need to change in order for it to create the MX Record using the domain I am setting up?

102

[falko]

The second tab 'Options' had a spot for two nameservers which confuses me. I used 1and1.com's 'DNS Management' to use my own nameserver ns1.scratchcohosting.com. so what values would I use for the nameservers in ISPConfig?
Fill in your own name server(s) here ns1.scratchcohosting.com (the ones that are authoritative for the domain).


The last tab 'Record' also confused me. The A Records looked fine assuming the private IP addresses are ok.You must use public IP addresses here, otherwise nobody from outside your LAN can access the domains.


but the MX Record used mail.scratchcohosting.com instead of mail.scratchco.com. Is this correct? if not what do i need to change in order for it to create the MX Record using the domain I am setting up?
As long as www.scratchco.com and mail.scratchco.com point to the same IP address, it doesn't matter which one you specify. But I'd take mail.scratchco.com.
You must also create an entry with mail.scratchco.com as mailserver and an empty hostname if you want to receive emails for user@scratchco.com.
Your current MX records allow you to receive emails for user@www.scratchco.com and user@mail.scratchco.com.


I don't understand how ISPConfig will know the difference between my hosting domain and any other domain if they are both just pointing to my IP address?
ISPConfig creates an Apache configuration that is based on name-based vhosts, i.e. you type a domain name in your browser, and Apache sees that domain name and decides which web site it must serve.

And what was the purpose of configuring a second ip address in the perfect setup?That is totally optional. It's just an example how you do it if you need another IP address.

[jacobhenry]

These are the final settings I used for my records to get the website to work.

103

Three more questions:
1)How do individual sites connect to there files with a FTP client? (site? username? password?)
2)How do individual sites connect to there databases using PHPMyAdmin? (username? password?) (I was unable to log in using the usernames I created)
3)How do individual sites use webmail? (I have not been able to log in with the usernames I set up with the website? I am new to hosting my own email, so where should I start to research and test Postfix?)

[falko]

1)How do individual sites connect to there files with a FTP client? (site? username? password?)

Use an FTP client like SmartFTP or WS_FTP. As hostname you can use any FQDN or IP address that points to the server, typically you'd use a domain of the web site. The username is the username of the site admin you created under "User & Email" (e.g. web1_adminuser).

2)How do individual sites connect to there databases using PHPMyAdmin? (username? password?) (I was unable to log in using the usernames I created)
In ISPConfig you create databases under the "Options" tab. There you also see the username of the database, typically something like web1_u1 (that would be the username for the database web1_db1).


3)How do individual sites use webmail? (I have not been able to log in with the usernames I set up with the website? I am new to hosting my own email, so where should I start to research and test Postfix?)
The ISPConfig webmail package behaves different than an email client. In an email client you must use the username (e.g. web1_someuser), whereas in webmail you must use an email address as username to log in.

[jacobhenry]

I have just found out that my Nameservers are not set up correctly. I will try to explain all the steps that I took hoping you can catch my error.

1) First I created scratchcohosting.com and aimed it towards my IP address. (http://scratchcohosting.com:81/ successfully leads me to my ISPConfig login)

2) Then I created two subdomains (ns1.scratchcohosting.com) and (ns2.scratchcohosting.com). I used 1and1.com's DNS servers and again aimed both of these nameservers to my IP address, which is hosting ISPconfig.

108

3) Since I had two of my own nameservers, I changed the Settings>DNS default nameservers to ns1... and ns2.scratchcohosting.com

105

4) I created a 'New Site' under ISP Manager with the domain www.jacobhenry.info.

5) Under DNS Manager>Options, both the nameservers are set to my default nameservers (ns1.scratchcohosting.com and ns2.scratchcohosting.com)

6) Under DNS Manager>Records are the following records.

106

7) As soon as i created the records in ISPConfig, I changed the default nameservers for jacobhenry.info on 1and1.com's site to:

107

Do you have any suggestions or solutions for my problem? I know I have been a pain in the butt, but i really enjoy using ISPConfig to learn about linux and web hosting. I appreciate your feed back and support.

[falko]

This is all ok. www.jacobhenry.info and jacobhenry.info are working for me in my browser. :)

[jacobhenry]

Its only working because I changed the settings in 1and1 to use their NS and point the domain back to my IP. www.kariandjacob.info is still set up using my name servers and it does not work. Sorry about switching it on you. Under Management>Services>Services it shows everything working properly. Is there any other way to test my DNS to make sure its working properly?

In the /etc/resolv.conf file


domain insightbb.com <----- Internet Service Provider
nameserver 145.253.2.75
nameserver 193.174.32.18
nameserver 194.25.0.60


By default it put my internet service provider. Should I have changed it to my domain or kept it at the default value?

[falko]

Is there any other way to test my DNS to make sure its working properly?
You can test with dig:

dig @localhost somedomain.com

In the /etc/resolv.conf file



By default it put my internet service provider. Should I have changed it to my domain or kept it at the default value?Looks ok.

[jacobhenry]

I have done multiple tests to make sure my dns server is alright, which it is. So now I have to find out why my nameservers are not being recognized.

Here I tested my localhost to detect the nameserver, and assure the domain (www.kariandjacob.info) was in my records.


; <<>> DiG 9.2.4 <<>> @localhost kariandjacob.info
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 48603
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 2

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;kariandjacob.info. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
kariandjacob.info. 86400 IN A 192.168.2.151

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
kariandjacob.info. 86400 IN NS ns1.scratchcohosting.com.
kariandjacob.info. 86400 IN NS ns2.scratchcohosting.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns1.scratchcohosting.com. 85592 IN A 12.205.45.114
ns2.scratchcohosting.com. 85600 IN A 12.205.45.114

;; Query time: 2 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(localhost)
;; WHEN: Tue Mar 21 03:07:53 2006
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 139


Then I tested both of my Name Servers to make sure they were both pointing to my IP.


; <<>> DiG 9.2.4 <<>> ns1.scratchcohosting.com ns2.scratchcohosting.com
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 45488
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;ns1.scratchcohosting.com. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
ns1.scratchcohosting.com. 86400 IN A 12.205.45.114

;; Query time: 73 msec
;; SERVER: 217.160.224.5#53(217.160.224.5)
;; WHEN: Tue Mar 21 03:12:14 2006
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 58

;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 62739
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;ns2.scratchcohosting.com. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
ns2.scratchcohosting.com. 86400 IN A 12.205.45.114

;; Query time: 56 msec
;; SERVER: 217.160.224.5#53(217.160.224.5)
;; WHEN: Tue Mar 21 03:12:14 2006
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 58



Now when I check the domain outside of my local host I get this:



; <<>> DiG 9.2.4 <<>> kariandjacob.info
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 14151
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;kariandjacob.info. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
kariandjacob.info. 10800 IN A 82.165.131.231

;; Query time: 69 msec
;; SERVER: 217.160.224.5#53(217.160.224.5)
;; WHEN: Tue Mar 21 03:13:27 2006
;; MSG SIZE rcvd


and these are the settings I have for this domain with my registrar

109

So the problem could be that I try to use both nameservers on one machine.

I can not find why my box is not responding. Any additional suggestions?

[falko]

I tried your nameserver and got this:

dig @ns1.scratchcohosting.com kariandjacob.info

; <<>> DiG 9.2.1 <<>> @ns1.scratchcohosting.com kariandjacob.info
;; global options: printcmd
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached
Either BIND is not running, or your firewall is blocking port 53.

BTW, you shouldn't let kariandjacob.info point to a local IP address because then nobody from outside your LAN can access it.

[jacobhenry]

Got it working. Thanks for your patience falko.

[jacobhenry]

Now I am on to my final task - Getting the Email to work properly. I have used the perfect setup for Debian Sarge and am having troubles while sending emails. Everything worked great when I sent an email to my account but I continue to get undelivered emails when I try to send from webmail. This could possibly be because I am behind a router that does not allow for loopback, but I will post my mail.log just incase that is not the problem.


Mar 22 13:17:23 server1 postfix/smtpd[18682]: connect from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 22 13:17:23 server1 postfix/smtpd[18682]: 97B7C23EEF: client=localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 22 13:17:23 server1 postfix/cleanup[18685]: 97B7C23EEF: message-id=<20060322081723.97B7C23EEF@server1.scratchco.com>
Mar 22 13:17:23 server1 postfix/qmgr[7447]: 97B7C23EEF: from=<web8_jacobhenry@kariandjacob.info>, size=1309, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Mar 22 13:17:23 server1 postfix/smtpd[18682]: disconnect from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 22 13:17:23 server1 courierpop3login: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Mar 22 13:17:23 server1 courierpop3login: LOGIN, user=web8_jacobhenry, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Mar 22 13:17:23 server1 courierpop3login: LOGOUT, user=web8_jacobhenry, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], top=0, retr=0, time=0
Mar 22 13:17:39 server1 postfix/smtp[18687]: 97B7C23EEF: to=<jachenry@indiana.edu>, relay=none, delay=16, status=bounced ([indiana.edu]: Name or service not known)
Mar 22 13:17:39 server1 postfix/cleanup[18685]: E169523EF0: message-id=<20060322081739.E169523EF0@server1.scratchco.com>
Mar 22 13:17:39 server1 postfix/qmgr[7447]: E169523EF0: from=<>, size=3133, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Mar 22 13:17:39 server1 postfix/qmgr[7447]: 97B7C23EEF: removed
Mar 22 13:17:40 server1 postfix/pickup[16687]: 0C1B123EEF: uid=10008 from=<web8_jacobhenry>
Mar 22 13:17:40 server1 postfix/cleanup[18685]: 0C1B123EEF: message-id=<20060322081740.0C1B123EEF@server1.scratchco.com>
Mar 22 13:17:40 server1 postfix/qmgr[7447]: 0C1B123EEF: from=<web8_jacobhenry@server1.scratchco.com>, size=402, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Mar 22 13:17:40 server1 postfix/local[18706]: 0C1B123EEF: to=<admispconfig@localhost>, relay=local, delay=0, status=sent (delivered to command: /usr/bin/procmail -f-)
Mar 22 13:17:40 server1 postfix/qmgr[7447]: 0C1B123EEF: removed
Mar 22 13:17:41 server1 postfix/local[18697]: E169523EF0: to=<web8_jacobhenry@server1.scratchco.com>, orig_to=<web8_jacobhenry@kariandjacob.info>, relay=local, delay=2, status=sent (deli$
Mar 22 13:17:41 server1 postfix/qmgr[7447]: E169523EF0: removed

[till]

Your server seems to be unable to resolve external domains.

Please check the file /etc/resolv.conf if the nameservers in there are correct.

[jacobhenry]

Now I can send and receive email but when I send an email from jake@kariandjacob.info the recipient recieves an email from web6_jakehenry@kariandjacob.info. is there anyway to change it so emails are sent using the first format (jake@kariandjacob.info)?

[falko]

You must set the sender address in your email client. Set it to jake@kariandjacob.info.