Multi-website DNS configuration

[TheBadger]

Hi all,

I have recently acquired dedicated server from the mighty Red Fox and I was looking to use it to host multiple ASP.NET websites on it using the single static IP address supplied.

I have been searching for a decent (and thorough) step-by-step example of DNS and multi-homing setup and, although found a few examples, cannot confidently say that they "hit the spot". They were either too vague at key points or miss configuration steps completely. I have some experience with setting up websites on a Windows 2000 Server with a dedicated IP address for each site, but most of the DNS work was out of my hands.

I am pretty sure that I am not the first person to attempt this type of setup


So, here is my story so far:

SERVER\ROLE INSTALL:
1. Acquired dedicated server with "Windows Server 2003 R1" pre-installed and configured using 1 static IP address. For the sake of simplicity, lets call it "1.2.3.4".
2. Installed IIS and ASP.NET 1.1 from the "manage servers" app.
3. Installed DNS from the "manage servers" app and used "forwarding". I noticed 1 warning in the DNS event log after installation stating my DNS may not work because my machine name did not contain a suffix (e.g. ".co.uk"). Does this matter? The machine name "RFHDSXX".

DNS CONFIG:
4. Added a zone with the name "www.domain1.co.uk" (I have already registered this with a 3rd party registrar - "Telivo" to be exact).
5. Added an "A" record to the zone with the name "www.domain1.co.uk".
6. Added a zone with the name "www.domain2.co.uk" (Again, I have already registered this with a 3rd party registrar - and again I used "Telivo").
7. Added an "A" record to the zone with the name "www.domain2.co.uk".

IIS CONFIG:
8. Added a website within IIS 6.0 and edited the host header name to "www.domain1.co.uk" in "advanced settings", leaving the IP address as "all unassigned" and the TCP port as "80".
9. Added a website within IIS 6.0 and edited the host header name to "www.domain2.co.uk" in "advanced settings", leaving the IP address as "all unassigned" and the TCP port as "80".

NAMESERVER CONFIG:
10. Changed the primary name server on my 3rd party registrar "Telivo" for both domain1.co.uk and domain2.co.uk to point at "1.2.3.4":

Telivo domain management
------------------------
nameserver1: ns1.redfoxhosting.com, IP address: 1.2.3.4
nameserver2: ns2.telivo.com, IP address: (I forget telivos address)

I left the 2nd "backup" nameserver to point to Telivo's own nameserver for the sake of simplicity at this point.


I am sure that my setup is not correct! I have a feeling that I need to change the nameserver1 setting of "ns1.redfoxhosting.com" to point to my dedicated server directly.

My questions, after reading several conflicting articles on DNS, are:

1. Do I need to configure my dedicated server as the nameserver, so that I can point the "nameserver1" value of "www.domain1.com" on Telivo to it? If so, how whereabouts\how do I configure my dedicated server to do so?
2. Do I need to add a suffix to server name to make it visible (e.g. "RFHDSXX.co.uk")?
3. Do I need to change my "DNS server address" settings in my "Internet Protocol properties" within "local area connection properties"? I believe they
currently point to a Red Fox DNS.


Please feel free to ask any questions and apologies for my numpty ones !

[Staff: Warren Ashcroft]

I was looking to use it to host multiple ASP.NET websites on it using the single static IP address supplied.

Quick question - did you know that you can request additional IP addresses?

[TheBadger]

I did have a look through the forum to see whether you could request additional IP addresses before, but thought I found a post that said you may as well configure DNS instead.

What do the additional IP addresses cost?

[Staff: Warren Ashcroft]

I did have a look through the forum to see whether you could request additional IP addresses before, but thought I found a post that said you may as well configure DNS instead.

What do the additional IP addresses cost?

Nothing to dedicated server customers, justification required though.

[TheBadger]

Thats my favourite price!

If I assign each of my websites a unique individual IP address, what other configuration would I need to do? I am guessing :

1. Uninstall DNS.
2. Change the Telivo domain management settings to:

nameserver1: ns1.telivo.com, IP address: (RedFox-supplied DS IP address)
nameserver2: ns2.telivo.com, IP address: (Telivo secondary nameserver IP address)

I aim to host 3 sites to begin with (i.e. retain the "default website" for testing plus the 2 Telivo-registered domains), so 2 additional IP address to go with the initial static one should do the trick. How do I go about requesting one?

[TheBadger]

*BUMP*

Sorry to hassle you Warren, but I could really use a reply to my nameserver \ configuration questions above when you have a chance.

Cheers!

[Staff: Warren Ashcroft]

OK - With just the one server I wouldnt recommend using it as the DNS server, does your domain registrar provide free DNS functionality (IE you can create the A records with them) ?

[TheBadger]

Yes, Telivo do provide this functionality.

[Staff: Warren Ashcroft]

OK - What you would do is set your domains to point to their nameservers, and then create the www A record in their control panel, point it at your server IP.

Hostheaders for the IIS site should have the hostheader www.domain.com and the IP as All.

You dont need the hostheader if you wish to use a second IP address for each website.

Does that help?

[TheBadger]

Right, gotcha. That sounds pretty straightforward.

I was thinking I might have to set up a DNS server and client on top of Active Directory on the single server! I'm over complicating things I think

Thanks for your help so far Warren! Its been very useful. I'll give that a go and get back to you either way...