My main domain is www.nanabite.com, it works fine, however I want my hostname to be ncs1.nanabite.com. How do I set this up if I am on the Rackshack DNS.

Also, would the RackShack DNS make a problem for me with subdomains, a user tried to make a subdomain but it doesn't work.

Finally, what are the advantages and disadvantages of running your own DNS server.

1. You have to physically set your hostname on your box to ncs1.nanabite.com, then set up an "A" record on the Rackshack DNS to point to your IP

2. If you are routing all your traffic through Rackshack DNS, when a client sets up a subdomain, it will never be seen, you would need to physically enter the "A" record for them in the Rackshack DNS.

3. As you can see from above, having your own name servers, when customers set up a subdomain, it is written to your DNS, so no need to go to the RS DNS and enter it there.

I run my main site with RS DNS, and have all customers on the DNS on my server.

Where can I add an A entry in the RackShack config, I can't seem to find it. All I can find it "Welcome to the DNS Control Adminstration area. This interface was designed to help our Rackshack members Add and modify their DNS.", and I believe that is only for domains.

That's the place to do it! You can manage A, MX, CNAME and all DNS entries there.

OK, then why does it ask you to add a domain, http://www._____________ [Submit] ???

Do I just enter ncs1.nanabite.com there? I did once and it rejected it.

Make an entry for the entire domain. Once that is done, you can delete the ones you don't want and just leave the A record if you want.

This is too annoying, I am going ahead and getting my own DNS.

Dan's Mini-How-To:

Log into your RackShack members area. Click on DNS Configuration. If you have already added domains on the RS DNS servers you should see a link that says "List your Domains", click on that.

Now you should see a list of all the domains you have already configured on the RS DNS servers. Pick the one you want to add a subdomain for. You should now be at the Modify DNS Entries page. Scroll all the way down to the bottom till you see 'Add new host to xxxxxxxxx.com'

Type in the subdomain there, for instance mine would be srv01.thegeekguide.com. Leave the type as 'A' and put in the appropriate IP address for the server you want to target (or account if it's an IP based account.

Smash the 'Add Host' button, pound down a beers (this part is optional), lather rinse repeat, come back in a few hours and if you can still see a single screen, type new host name into your web browser's address bar and confirm that its working. If it's not then chances are it just hasn't propagated yet, so just be patient and check the next day or so.

Thanks for that. I enventually worked it out anyway, but having my own DNS will automate all that, so I am going to do it that way.