Got a dedicated server, I'm over my head (nameserver)

[flhu]

Right off the bat I'm having a conflict of paradox brewing. The server settings say the name servers are ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com.

but how on earth am I supposed to point mydomain.com the nameservers at mydomain.com if mydomain.com isn't already pointing there?

Or do I just do it?

chicken, have you met egg?


Don't worry, I will have more questions about WHM as the day progresses.

[wesleyw]

Go to your registrar - edit your domain info, there will be an option to "create nameservers" or something like that - you will need to enter the IP address of your DNS server, as well as the url you want to use (eg ns1.mydomain.com)
its not like telling your registrar what DNS server you are using, its creating a new DNS server - they are easy to mix up...

each registrar is different, I use dotster and its pretty straighforward, -

[wige]

I take it you are asking why you are setting up a nameserver on subdomain.domain.com - how would it be found unless the client already knows where domain.com is?

The nameserver it is asking you to set up is the nameserver for your subdomains, not for your domain. This is simply the server that will say that all of your subdomains are on that physical server. This information then goes upstream. So, when someone wants to go to www.domain.com/index.html, they follow the following path:

To ns.com -> where is www.domain.com?
From ns.com -> ask ISP.com Your Internet Service Provider at 1.2.3.4
To ns.isp.com -> where is www.domain.com?
From ns.isp.com -> ask ns.domain.com at 1.2.3.5
To ns.domain.com -> where is www.domain.com?
From ns.domain.com -> www.domain.com = 1.2.3.5

For anything you try to access on domain.com, ns.domain.com is the authoritative nameserver. Your hosting company will gives out the IP address of that nameserver to anyone who looks to resolve a domain name that the hosting company's DNS server hasn't cached, or to resolve disputes or correct for errors.

[flhu]

Yeah, it was at the registrar... Under domain management they had a kind of cryptic "Add Hosts" or something like that, typed in the IP addresses, and I was good to go!

Sweet.

[New Method]

I rememeber when I first started having to deal with nameservers and similar networking tasks - it was horrible, you get used to it eventually though lol!