searching advice about setting up ISPconfig

[coolen]

Hi, I have tried two different setups of ISPConfig, both times I ended up with parts suddenly not working anymore. It has probably to do with my own lack of knowledge of setting up servers that have email, ftp and http access.

I also have (i think) a complicated situation, and that was the main reason I was looking for a package like ISPConfig, to make things easier.....


My situation:

I have an ADSL connection to my ISP with a static nr:
ip4da1ece5.direct-adsl.nl - 77.161.236.229

I have 3 domain names hired at www.domainguru.net.
2 for a friend and one for my community on the net.
I have all sort of access here, can change nameservers and add dns records etc
say:

www.friend1.com
www.friend2.com
www.community.com

Then I have 2 other domains via www.hostnet.nl, They offer NO self maintainance like changing nameservers etc, I have to write them on each change, and they ask payment for that.
One of these names is the name of the (paper) compagny my wife has to give her the possibility to buy things for her hobby cheaper.

say:
www.friend3.nl
www.compagny.nl


To make things a bit more the same, and to have the possibility to get maintainance a bit more under control I did set up an account on www.afraid.org
I did change the nameservers at domainguru, and asked hostnet, for payment, to change the nameservers for my domains to the afraid nameservers also.

The files at afraid.org look all quit similar:

;
; zone for compagny.nl
; built on 2008-11-01 02:50:22
;

$TTL 3600

@ 86400 IN SOA ns1.afraid.org. dnsadmin.afraid.org. (
0811010002 ; Serial
86400 ; Refresh
7200 ; Retry
3600000 ; Expire
3600 ) ; Minimum

@ 86400 IN NS ns1.afraid.org.
@ 86400 IN NS ns2.afraid.org.
@ 86400 IN NS ns3.afraid.org.
@ 86400 IN NS ns4.afraid.org.

localhost IN A 127.0.0.1

; username:coolen|tag:2924671
@ 3600 IN MX 10 pop3.compagny.nl.

; username:coolen|tag:2924669
ftp 60 IN A 77.161.236.229

; username:coolen|tag:2924668
mail 60 IN A 77.161.236.229

; username:coolen|tag:3110682
pop3 3600 IN A 77.161.236.229

; username:coolen|tag:3149644
smtp 3600 IN A 77.161.236.229

; username:coolen|tag:2924667
www 3600 IN A 77.161.236.229


The server That I want to run is behind a router,
internal static address is : 192.168.1.76
and I did set up my router to pass through all needed ports
http 80
https 443
ftp 21
global ftpports 57000-58000
dns 53
ispconfig 81
smtp 25
pop3 110


I am fairly new to setting up a complete environment, so I have no clue about what choices I have to make on the various aspects of setting up my server. So I would appreciate a little advice here, and I'm sure that others, in comparable situations, would profit from it also.


I am using the perfect server setup for Suse 11:0
and the latest non Beta dist from ISPConfig


What choices do I need to make while setting up Suse 11:0
and ISP Config.

For example, can I name my server /domain just:

myserver.lan ?

or is it much better to name it according to one of the existing domains:

compagny.nl ?

what do I do with the various DNS related issues in ISPConfig and Suse setup ?

skip named stuff etc ? in suse setup?

add DNS/MX stuff in ISPConfig ?

does Bind/DNS need to be started in ISPConfig ?


Do I need to add additional records to the zone stuff in afraid ?

SSL related stuff ? just add my personal info address etc ?

Other things I do not recall or failed to name here ?

For now I just want HTTP(S) FTP and email working, but I might want to have it completed with DNS later (mainly because I have the idea setting it up complete with DNS now might be a bit too much, and making things way more complicated. If you think however that it is a piece of cake to have it completely setup, including DNS, feel free to advice me, howevekeep in mind that I have no free access to the nameserver maintainance at hostnet, under which www.compagny.nl resorts.... So if I ask them to change something there I have to pay, and it must work, otherwise they refuse to set new nameservers...)


If you need any other info to be able to advice me better, please feel free to ask me.


Thanks in advance for something,I realise all to well, asks quite some time from somebody.

[coolen]

no advice ?

[till]

Originally Posted by coolen

For example, can I name my server /domain just:

myserver.lan ?

no.

or is it much better to name it according to one of the existing domains:

compagny.nl ?

yes

what do I do with the various DNS related issues in ISPConfig and Suse setup ?

skip named stuff etc ? in suse setup?

add DNS/MX stuff in ISPConfig ?

does Bind/DNS need to be started in ISPConfig ?

Follow exactly the perfect setup guide.

Do I need to add additional records to the zone stuff in afraid ?

http://www.howtoforge.com/ispconfig_dns_godaddy
http://www.howtoforge.com/ispconfig_...domain_schlund

SSL related stuff ? just add my personal info address etc ?

That does not matter as long as you add something or accept the defaults (except step 7 and 8), see installation instructions.

Other things I do not recall or failed to name here ?

For now I just want HTTP(S) FTP and email working, but I might want to have it completed with DNS later (mainly because I have the idea setting it up complete with DNS now might be a bit too much, and making things way more complicated. If you think however that it is a piece of cake to have it completely setup, including DNS, feel free to advice me, howevekeep in mind that I have no free access to the nameserver maintainance at hostnet, under which www.compagny.nl resorts.... So if I ask them to change something there I have to pay, and it must work, otherwise they refuse to set new nameservers...)

Follow exactly the perfect setup guide as I pointed out above.

If you need any other info to be able to advice me better, please feel free to ask me.

In my personal opinion SuSE is the worst possible selection for the Linux distribution as it causes the most trouble with updates or not working services. Better Use Debian, Ubuntu or CentOS.

[coolen]

Thanks Till,

I will definatly have a look at one of the other distributions. Suse was a historical choice, since it is the OS used by the place I work. So no strings attached further.

If I have more question, after having a new install I will be back on this if still needed.

[coolen]

Till,

Looking at what my work currently uses the most (Redhat), I would give CentOS a try, would that be a good choice in your opinion ?

as for your answer:

--------------
what do I do with the various DNS related issues in ISPConfig and Suse setup ?

skip named stuff etc ? in suse setup?

add DNS/MX stuff in ISPConfig ?

does Bind/DNS need to be started in ISPConfig ?
>>>Follow exactly the perfect setup guide.

-------------------

The perfect setup is biased towards having your DNS server working I think ? What if I do NOT want to run a DNS server for now? I just want to use afraid.org as the DNS for all my domains. I was refering to the situation scetched in my initial post, where I would not set up DNS, so my question was what I should do there, with respect to questions about names, named/bind and ip's asked

[falko]

Originally Posted by coolen

Till,

Looking at what my work currently uses the most (Redhat), I would give CentOS a try, would that be a good choice in your opinion ?

Yes.

Originally Posted by coolen

What if I do NOT want to run a DNS server for now? I just want to use afraid.org as the DNS for all my domains. I was refering to the situation scetched in my initial post, where I would not set up DNS, so my question was what I should do there, with respect to questions about names, named/bind and ip's asked

You can simply disable BIND in ISPConfig.