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I'm moving from a sharedhosting to a VPS and I'm struggling with DNS'. My hosting company only provides me my VPS' IP, and my domain, say mydomain.com is registered a registrar called bookmyname.com. This registrar seems to provide me with 3 DNS called nsa.bookmyname.com (and nsb, nsc).

After contacting my hosting company, they told me I had to run my own dns server because they didn't provide one for the basic VPS solution I have. I also read about setting up bind9 on my server, but I'm not sure if it's what I'm supposed to do in this case. How could I host the dns server on the same server that runs the web server.

Isn't the DNS supposed to make the connection between the client and the web server? I think I'm missing something fundamental here about how DNS works, what is it?

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Basically your hosting provider does the initial DNS for your domain. i.e. your registrar holds the details of your DNS Server settings and tells the world what they are and where to go.

If you arent't that technically minded and don't know how DNS works in the first place, I would use a third party because if your vps goes down or get's DOS'd then your dns goes down and if you haven't set up a backup dns server then you'll lose it all!

I use entrydns.net those guys have done well and love the simple admin interface. oh and it's free! Basically log in to your registrar control panel change DNS servers to entrydns.net ones (you'll be told them when you sign up). Then create a root A record pointing to your new VPS server and away you go :)

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Well, talk to your registrar - where you registered bookmyname.com. They normally offer DNS servers as service for their customers. Otherwise use a free DNS service, or a cheap paid one.

Do NOT put up your own DNS. Regulations say your domain must have 2 DNS servers in TWO DIFFERENT NETWORKS - your VPN will be not following regulations.

And othewise - yes, there is a reason people get paid for administering machines. Consider hiring someone.

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  • bookmyname.com is my registrar, I edited my post to make this clearer. What I don't understand is how do I get nsa.bookmyname.com to know that mydomain.com should point to my IP. I don't want to hire someone as I consider making things by myself highly educational.
    – francoisr
    Aug 18, 2013 at 20:54
  • Well, then start reading a book. How DNS works. If you do not even know the basics - then a short question wont help. THis is like going to a kitchen and asking for a shotcut to become a good cook. DNS is well documented. And you get nsa.bookmyname.com to know your domain name by WHATEVER MEANS THE REGISTRAR PROVIDES. THis is not even a DNS question - they likely have a web portal that you have to use. As such, it is customer support, off topic here. Contact their support. bookmyname.com/manager.cgi seems to allow to log into their management website.
    – TomTom
    Aug 18, 2013 at 20:59
  • Btw., from the FAQ: Novice questions are off topic here.
    – TomTom
    Aug 18, 2013 at 21:00
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    I agree, in general, that an amateur shouldn't run their own DNS when perfectly good services exist, but "not following regulations" is a little silly. No one's going to enforce it, and if you're running a single VPS as a novice sysadmin it probably doesn't much matter if your DNS isn't properly redundant.
    – ceejayoz
    Aug 18, 2013 at 21:05
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    @francoisr Seriously, I dont care what you think. Like the rules or not - they are here. I did not make them, you agreed to them. Follow them. "Novice question" is a reason to close. Don't like that - tell the people that should care (the admins) and see you get this changed. Being nice is not elitist. Ignoring the rules is rude.
    – TomTom
    Aug 18, 2013 at 21:24
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Typically the registrar provides a 'primary' DNS entry that points to the DNS servers. The DNS servers provide the DNS records. Among other things, the DNS records include IP address or addresses of the server for various domain configurations, such as example.com, www.example.com, forums.example.com, etc. It also includes MX records, telling mail servers where to go, anti-spam entries, and several other records for varying purposes.

If your VPS provider does not provide DNS management service, I would recommend using a different provider. Rackspace, Linode, DigitalOcean, and many others offer easy to use DNS management tools as a part of their VPS/cloud server service.

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