Installing
- Start->Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs->Add/Remove Windows Components
- Highlight "Networking Services"
- Click "Details"
- Make sure "Domain Name System (DNS)" is checked
- Click OK
Adding a domain
Start->All Programs->Administrative Tools->DNS
Under the tree:
DNS->your-computer-name->Forward Lookup Zones
Right-click on this and click "New Zone"
In wizard, Select "Primary Zone"
For zone name, enter domain name, e.g. "thehunters.org"
Assuming you don't have any DNS files to import, select "Create a new file with this file name" use the default name, e.g. "thehunters.org.dns"
You will typically not want to allow dynamic updates (this is useful for Windows domain servers, but not for internet servers) so select "Do not allow dynamic updates"
Click "Finish"
Configuring domain
Start->All Programs->Administrative Tools->DNS
Under the tree:
DNS->your-computer-name->Forward Lookup Zones->your-domain-name
- Add A entry for the domain name. Right-click on "your-domain-name" in the tree, and select "New Host (A)". Leave first field blank. Enter IP address. Don't select "Create associated PTR record" (ev1servers has a entry in members section for these). Click "Add Host"
- If you have more IP addresses you wish to identify with the host name (unusual, but possible) then do the same for each IP address.
- Optional... Add A entries for the NS addresses. Follow steps 1 & 2, but enter "NS1" in hostname for first nameserver and "NS2" in hostname for second nameserver etc. Just one IP address per name-server. These would match what you specified, or will specify, when you registered your domain.
- Optional... Add mail server name, follow step 3 to specify an A record for the mail server, and specify "mail" as in first box as the hostname.
- Mail-Exchange records. Right-click on "your-domain-name" in the tree (not in host list) and specify "New Mail Exchanger (MX)". For fully qualified domain name, enter "mail.your-domain-name." (if you added mail host; make sure to specify trailing "."). Or "your-domain-name." (again, make sure to specify trailing "."). Specify a Mail server priority, typically "10" is used. Other additional MX entries are useful when multiple mail servers are involved. Typically just specify the one.
- Add host aliases. I use this personally for all the websites. Right-click on "your-domain-name" in the tree and specify "New Alias (CNAME)".
- Specify alias name, e.g. "CNAME". Specify FQDN, typically "your-domain-name." (trailing "."). You can also alias to another domain, e.g. "friends-domain-name." (trailing "."). Using CNAME's saves work if you want to move to a different IP address.
- Add/Update Name-server entries. Double-click on line that has the type "Start of Authority (SOA)". In the "Name Servers" tab, Click "Add", specify one of the NS addresses above, e.g. "NS1.your-domain-name." (trailing ".") and click "Resolve". Then click "OK". Do this for each name-server you have. Remove any bad entries (such as the default one added when the zone was created).
- General settings. Double-click on the line that has the type "Start of Authority (SOA)". Make sure the Primary server is correct (say "your-domain-name." with trailing ".") and "hostmaster." should be fine as responsible person. Other tabs are generally not interesting for all but the advanced users.
Oh yeah, and if you have a firewall, make sure port 53 is enabled. I've personally found I need to enable 53 for both TCP and UDP.