Some basic pre-installation questions
 

Hi everyone--I have been reading these forums for the past couple months trying to gain knowledge and experience in server deployment. I am still very new to Linux but I have a strong desire to become proficient with it.

So with that said here is my scenario followed by my questions.

Server: Debian Etch (The Perfect Setup--completed--"Thanks Falko")
server1.pipeline2020.com

Network Info: WAN - 1 Dynamic IP - 63.92.159.xxx
LAN - 192.168.1.xxx
Gateway - 192.168.1.1
Netmask - 255.255.255.0
Network - 192.168.1.0
Broadcast - 192.168.1.255

Router Linksys - (with DynDNS updating to acehome.homelinux.net) Necessary ports are forwarded to 192.168.1.200

5 interfaces configured on server eth0 192.168.1.200
eth0:1 192.168.1.201
eth0:2 xxx.xxx.xxx.202
eth0:3 xxx.xxx.xxx.203
eth0:4 xxx.xxx.xxx.204

I have custom DNS services from DynDNS for pipeline2020.com which is a domain I own.

**I will preface my questions with the statement that I am attempting this for learning purposes only. Pipeline2020.com, although purchased for a purpose will be hosted on a commercial site when completed.

**My goal is to correctly configure a DNS server and resolve virtual websites to their corresponding internal ip's from the outside world. The primary reason is to provide ssl on each site that I run.

QUESTIONS:

(ISPConfig Install)
1. During the ISPConfig setup, what do i use for the ispconfig web IP?
2. What do I use for the hostname
3. What do I use for the domain

(Publishing my DNS server)

1. Given I have control over the DNS for pipeline2020.com can what is the best way to publish my DNS server so it can be seen from the outside world?

2. Is there a way I can cheat on the 2nd nameserver required as I do not wish to set up another system (probably frugal anyway since I only have 1 IP)

(ISPConfig Configuration)

1. Are there any special configuration changes I may need to make after the install. I noted on a previous practice install that the host was "www". And if I remember, there was a setting for Server 1 and the nameservers seemed to default to www.acehome.homelinux.net. (note on my practice install the FQDN was dserver.acehome.homelinux.net) whereas this new installation is going on the machine with a FQDN of server1.pipeline2020.com. I guess what I am wondering, where does the "www", and "Server 1" settings come into play? And what should my actual nameservers be?

2. When ISPConfig creates a new site obviously it is creating the DNS forward zone also. Is there any need for me to create a reverse zone for this site also?

If I can gain an understanding of these concepts I can get thru the install correctly I believe.

Note: On my practice install my DNS resolved correctly from the LAN but not the outside world.

Thanks you in advance for any help!

Jeff

Hi.

I'm no pro myself, but I will try and point you the right direction.

1. Since you have a dynamic ip, use your internal LAN ip, so 192.168.1.xxx
2. the hostname you want the site to be known by.
For example: if you say: server01 then people have to go to server01.pipeline2020.com, if you say www, then people have to go to www.pipeline2020.com .
3. Your domain you want to use. I guess that would be pipeline2020.com .


1. You would set the nameservers of your domain to the servers that will host your domain. In this case, I think you want to use ISPconfig to manage the domain, so normally you have to put in the ip of the server you installed ispconfig on, but the problem is: you have a dynamic IP, and I never tried it with a dynamic IP before, but maybe you can try to use your dynamic IP's hostame for that.

2. Don't fill it in, or just fill in the same IP twice. This is not recomended, because you wont have a backup dns server then, but i guess you are aware of that allready.

1. Your actual nameservers should be the servers who are managing your domain. The "Server 1" thingie is just an 'information field' I think, so you can put whatever name you want. The "www" is the part you filled in as hostname, see your 2nd question. Further more, the question "is there anything special I need to change in my configuration" is a bit a weird question. YES PLEASE! After all its a configuration file. Go over it, and look up the things you dont understand. This is the only way you will learn howto set this up decently. It will also prevent you asking tons of questions, not knowing what you are on about ;).

2. Reverse DNS is something you should bug your ISP with.
I suppose you will not be able to change your rdns of your home-ip,
but once you are setting up a dedicated server with a fixed ip, it is recomended to ask your ISP to set the rdns for your server's IP.
If you have only 1 IP, then you will need it for the mail, if you have several IP's and want to provide ssl, then you need it for your SSL on every specific IP.

Go ahead then.

Probably that is because the namserver for your domain is not set to point to the server you have your dns server on.

Np.

Regards,
Genghis