DNS on Win2000

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Hi,

Im using windows2000 (Server) and im wondering something about the DNS feature,

I know how to configure the DNS for a domain name i have allready registered, but i wondered if there was a way to avoid having to register a domain name and use my computer/network name

For example this computers name is 123321, on the network typing http://123321 would resolve to this computer,

Is there a way for computers outside the network to be able to resolve it,


I hope that made sense, shout if it doesnt (im blond) :-))

Regards,
James

[Xayd]

Without a registered domain, they'd have to go to by your public IP address.

[Christoph]

As already stated - you will need a public domain name unless you only serve the site for a couple of friends. You could update your host file on W2K and match the machine name to the IP address. If all your friends would do it on their machines they could get to your machine by name.

You will find the file in your WINNT / System32 / Drivers / etc folder. It countains an example of how to it. Before a machine calls the DNS server it looks into that file for possible information.

Good luck!

Christoph

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Ok, so these groups who you register a domain name with,
How does that all work

I mean say i wanted jamesmartin.co.uk , is there no way to have my own server set up to register the domain instead of paying out for some other group to do it

(Whats this Wins i heard about - i dont have a clue about it but is it anything to do with what im trying to do)

[Dave22]

No. You must use an official domain registrar to have it accessible to the Internet. Remember that the Root servers and TLD (Top Level Domain... ie, .com, .org, .net, etc.) servers need to know about your domain for DNS to work properly around the Internet and only official registrars have "access" to make those modifications. Ok, I'm oversimplifying but that's the basic idea.

You can theoretically configure and *host* that domain on your DNS server, but anyone who wants to resolve hosts in your domain would have to point to your server for DNS (kinda unrealistic).

Oh, and WINS is for Windows networks. It resolves NetBIOS names to IP addresses.

[Battery Powered]

thx dave

[Christoph]

Actually - if you have a couple of public IP addresses (some DSL ISP's give out 5 to customers here) you could run your own DNS and web server. Here's how that works:

You install DNS on your server (e.g. BIND) and put it onto the Internet. Let's say you name that server "ns1.yourdomain.com" with IP 123.123.123.123 - You setup a zone file for your future domain with MX record (email) and all the necessary stuff (www,ftp, etc.) - Now you buy a domain name "yourname.com" ! At your registrar you first register the DNS server (name and IP address) from above. Most registrars check in that moment if that server responds to DNS queries. If your server responds they accept it. Then you set the DNS server name into the proper field for your domain name and after 24-48 hours you should be able to resolve the name. That's a very short description of how you could get it to work.

You need an always on Internet connection and at least 2 IP addresses and 2 machines.

Christoph