RE: [FreeDNS] Registration problem

["Anna Swanepoel" <annas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Johann, Henk,

Would you mind if I use the text of your mails about "servers being
authorative" in my electronic newsletter? I will obviously give you credit
for being the "authors" and you are welcome to send me a little "auto
signature", or "about the author" -thingy that I will add to give exposure
to your business...

The All Africa Newsletter, basically contains articles, etc on domains, web
hosting, web design and other internet- and marketing-related stuff,  that
the "layman" can understand. I'm the Ed and I'm more from a sales/marketing
background, so the rule is: if I can understand most of it, it qualifies for
publication.

We currently have about 800 subscribers, consisting mostly of the
decision-makers in SME's.
Previous editions are archived at www.allafrica.co.za (under "news").

Looking forward to your reply.

Warm Regards

Anna Swanepoel
All Africa Technologies
Tel: 011-805 4310
     011-805 8111
Fax: 011-315 1839
E-mail: anna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Web: http://www.allafrica.co.za
     http://www.buydomains.co.za
     http://www.quickweb.co.za
     http://www.dolphinawards.co.za

WEB HOSTING FROM R50 PER MONTH/R420 PER YEAR
DOMAIN REGISTRATION FROM R75 ONCE OFF
WEBDESIGN FROM R300 ONCE OFF
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-----Original Message-----
From: freedns-admin@xxxxxx [mailto:freedns-admin@xxxxxx]On Behalf Of
Johann Visagie
Sent: 08 February 2001 10:08
To: freedns@xxxxxx
Subject: Re: [FreeDNS] Registration problem


info@xxxxxxxx on 2001-02-08 (Thu) at 00:31:34 +0100:
>
> Hello there,
>
> On 7 Feb 2001, at 19:10, Jaco Engelbrecht wrote:
>
> > 2) give me your two name servers that's authorative for you domain.
>
> Can anyone explain in simple language when a server is authorative
> for a certain domain or how you can make that server to become
> authoritave for that domain. Thanks!

Good question.  A technically correct answer would take forever, so here's
the short-short version.  :-)

A domain usually has one primary (master) nameserver, and one or more
secondary (slave) nameservers.  All of these nameservers have to be
authoritative for the domain.

Authoritative nameservers for a domain (both primary and secondaries) are
indicated by NS records in a domain's zone file.  However, the mere fact a
nameserver is listed in a domain's NS records does not make it
authoritative.
[*]

Nameservers have to be specifically configured to be authoritative for a
domain.  This can only be done by the person(s) operating those nameservers,
since it requires changes to a nameserver's configuration files.

The primary nameserver for a domain needs an entry in its configuration file
to tell it that it's the master for that domain, plus it needs the name of
the master copy of the domain's zone file which must be be physically
present
on the filesystem of the machine running the nameserver.

A secondary nameserver for a domain needs an entry in its configuraion file
te tell it that it's a slave for that domain, plus it needs to know the IP
number of the master server for the domain.  It will fetch the zone file for
the domain from the master at predetermined intervals.

[*] If a nameserver is listed in a domain's NS records but has not been
configured to be authoritative for the domain, it is known as a "lame
delegation".  This is a common cause of registration failures.

Of course, things quickly get more complex, but that's the basics.

In short, to register a domain:

1) Choose your domain name and make sure it's free.

2) Approach two ore more people who run nameservers and ask them to
configure
   their servers to be authoritative for your domain.  Possibly you may run
   one or more of these servers yourself.  Or possibly you're using a free
   service like GraniteCanyon to do it for you.  Whichever way you go, any
   changes to your domain (e.g. changes in A records - mappings from host
   names to IP numbers) have to be affected by whoever runs the primary
   nameserver and therefore has physical possession of the master zone file.

3) Only once these nameservers have been set up and you've tested them to be
   authoritative for your domain do you do the registration with the
relevant
   registrar.  If your nameservers aren't configured yet, the registrar will
   just reject the registration.

-- V
_____________________________________________________
FreeDNS                    ZA NiC - free domain names
freedns@xxxxxx    Archive: http://www.za.net/freedns/


_____________________________________________________
FreeDNS                    ZA NiC - free domain names
freedns@xxxxxx    Archive: http://www.za.net/freedns/