Setting up Ensim Pro as a DNS server

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Watch a demo about setting up Ensim Pro as a DNS server (if available)

When you create a domain, you register a domain name and an IP address for that domain with a domain name registrar. In addition, you need to make sure the domain is registered with primary and secondary Domain Name System (DNS) servers. Domains that are not registered with DNS servers cannot be accessed from the Internet.

There are three ways to register domains or zones with DNS servers:

- Have a domain name registrar perform the registration for you. Domain name registrars can add your domain's information to their DNS servers for a small fee. If you choose this option, you do not need to configure DNS settings on Ensim Pro.

- Have a service provider manage the registration for you. Service providers can make sure your domain is registered on DNS servers for a small fee. If you choose this option, you do not need to configure DNS settings on Ensim Pro.

- Use Ensim Pro as your primary and secondary DNS server. Using this option, you might be able to avoid certain DNS management fees and retain the maximum control over your domain names. To use Ensim Pro as a DNS server, you need to configure DNS settings in the DNS section of the Appliance Administrator control panel. Instructions are provided in this topic.

If you choose to let your domain name registrar or service provider manage your name server requirements, you do not need to configure the DNS settings of Ensim Pro.

- Learn more about DNS

- Go to the next quick-start topic: Monitor a domain's bandwidth usage

# How to set up Ensim Pro as a DNS server

There are two ways to use Ensim Pro as a DNS server:

- If you have permission to manage the domain in which the Ensim Pro server lies (Option 1)

- If you do not have permission to manage the domain in which the Ensim Pro server lies (Option 2)

# Determining whether you have permission to manage the domain in which the Ensim Pro server lies

You have permission to manage the domain in which the Ensim Pro server lies if you own the domain. For example, if your Ensim Pro server is named my.example.net and you have permission to manage the example.net domain, you have permission to manage the domain in which the Ensim Pro server lies and you can use Option 1. You can also use this option if you can change the name of your Ensim Pro server to a name in a domain you can manage.

If you do not own the domain in which the Ensim Pro server lies, you do not have permission to manage the domain. For example, if your Ensim Pro server is named my.example.net, you do not have permission to manage the example.net domain. In this case, use Option 2.

- Note: All the domains or sites you create on your Ensim Pro must be part of the same domain or zone. In the example above, all domains created on Ensim Pro would have the suffix example.net.

# Option 1: Using Ensim Pro as a DNS server when you own the server's domain

To use this option, you need:

1. Permission to manage the domain in which your Ensim Pro server’s name lies.

2. The name of the zone (or domain) that you want to manage. For example, example.net.

3. The name of the server hosting Ensim Pro. For example, web.example.net.

4. The IP address of the server hosting Ensim Pro. This will be used as the IP address of your primary DNS server (also called a name server). For example, 10.0.0.1.

5. Another IP address assigned to you. This will be used as the secondary name server for virtual DNS. If you do not have another IP address, get one from your service provider. For example, 10.0.0.2.

6. Two domain names registered to the IP addresses in requirements 4 and 5 above. These will be the names of your primary and secondary name servers. The higher-level domain name server transfers control to these name servers when it gets a request to resolve a name in your domain or zone. Note that these names need not be the same as the name of your Ensim Pro server. For example, ns1.web.example.net, ns2.web.example.net.

7. Optional: If you want to resolve IP addresses to host names, you need to own an IP address range. For example, 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.255.

## Instructions

To set up Ensim Pro as a DNS server when you own the Ensim Pro server's domain:

1. Tell the outside world about the two name servers (primary and secondary name servers) that you are going to create. To do that, contact your domain name registrar and register the two DNS host names and the two IP addresses that you own. How the DNS change request works
   .

For example, you could do the following if you owned example.net:

- Register ns1.web.example.net with IP address 10.0.0.1 as the primary name server for the zone example.net.

- Register ns2.web.example.net with IP address 10.0.0.2 as the secondary name server for the zone example.net.

- Important: Please be very careful with this step. If you make a mistake, your name servers will never be contacted, and your zone will not work.

2. You might also need to tell the outside world about the name servers that will carry out the reverse translations (from IP address to name) for your zone. Contact your service provider or domain registrar to find out whether they delegate in-addr.arpa zones to your control for the IP address block(s) you are assigned. If not, while you will still be able to create PTR (pointer) entries in Ensim Pro, they will have no effect and, for each site you create in your zone, you will need to submit a change request in the in-addr.arpa space to your service provider.

Classless delegation is a method for doing reverse resolution delegation on non-octet boundaries for address spaces covering fewer than 256 addresses. It is an advanced DNS administration feature and requires that your service provider has given you authority over the in-addr.arpa zones for the IP address block(s) you are assigned. If you need to setup classless in-addr.arpa delegation, it is recommended that you read and follow RFC 2317. You can find it at http://www.dns.net/dnsrd/rfc/rfc2317.html.

For example, you could do the following for in-addr.arpa zones delegated to you if you owned the domain example.net:

1. With a domain name registrar, register ns1.web.example.net with IP address 10.0.0.1 as the primary name server for the zone 0.0.10.in-addr.arpa

2. With a domain name registrar, register ns2.web.example.net with IP address 10.0.0.2 as the secondary name server for the zone 0.0.10.in-addr.arpa

3. With your registrar, verify that your primary and secondary domain names match the domain names you registered above.

For example, if you owned example.net, you would verify that ns1.web.example.net and ns2.web.example.net resolved to 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2 respectively.

4. In the Appliance Administrator control panel, add address (A) records for the your new primary and secondary name servers. Follow these steps:

1. In the shortcuts section of the Appliance Administrator Home
   page, click Zones in the DNS section.

2. Locate the line with the name of your Ensim Pro server, for example, web.example.net, then click . Your Ensim Pro server's host list is displayed.

3. From the Add drop-down list, choose Address (A) record.

4. On the Add Address (A) Record form, in the Hostname.domain text box, type the name of the server that will be your primary name server. In this example, you would type the server name ns1. web.example.net is already provided.

5. Type the IP address of the server that will be your new primary name server in the IP address text box. In this example that would be 10.0.0.1,. Leave the checkbox Update Reverse Address Record checked.

6. Click Add. Ignore warnings about missing reverse zones.

7. Repeat steps c through f to add an address (A) record for the server that will be your secondary name server. In this example, the secondary name server is ns2.web.example.net with IP address 10.0.0.2.

5. Tell Ensim Pro about the two name servers you just added entries for. Follow these steps:

1. From the Add drop-down list on your Ensim Pro's Host list page, choose Name Server (NS) Record.

2. On the Add Name Server (NS) Record form, leave Name server zone text box blank.

3. In the Name server text box type the name of the server that will be your primary name server, then click Add. In this example, the primary server name is ns1.web.example.net.

4. Repeat steps a through c for the server that will be your secondary name server. In this example, the secondary name server is ns2.web.example.net.

6. Specify which of the two name servers just created is primary and which is secondary. Follow these steps:

1. On the DNS submenu, click Configuration (or click Configuration in the DNS shortcuts area of the home page).

2. On the Configuration: Name Servers form, click in the Actions column of the Primary Master.

3. On the Primary Master Setting form, type the name of the server you want to be your primary name server, for example ns1.web.example.net, then click Save.

4. On the Configuration: Name Servers form, click in the Actions column of the Secondary Server.

5. On the Secondary Server/Virtual DNS Setting form, click the Virtual DNS radio button, then type the name of the server you want to be your secondary name server, for example, ns2.web.example.net.

6. In the IP Address text box, type the IP address of your secondary name server, for example, 10.0.0.2, then click Save.

7. To complete the process, you need to restart the Ensim Pro DNS Service. Follow these steps:

1. On the left navigation bar, click Services.

2. On the Subscribed Services form, find the DNS service.

3. In the Actions column of the DNS service, click (stop service), then click (start service). It is important to stop and then start DNS at this point instead of simply restarting the service. Restarting does not clear the DNS cache or set up the secondary name server.

The name server settings are established, and they are automatically copied into every domain that is created on Ensim Pro.

# Option 2: Using Ensim Pro as a DNS server when your Ensim Pro server’s name lies in a domain you do not manage

Use this option if you do not have permission to manage the domain in which your Ensim Pro server lies. To do this, create a site with a name that you own. The name server runs on this site.

To use this option, you need the following information:

1. The name of the zone (or domain) that you want to manage. For example, example.net.

2. A domain name that will be the name of the Ensim Pro site used to host your primary and secondary DNS servers. This is any unused domain name in the zone in step 1. For example, web.example.net

3. The IP address of this site. This will be used as the IP address of your primary DNS server (also called a name server). You can get this IP address from your service provider. For example, 10.0.0.1.

4. Another IP address assigned to you. This will be used as the secondary name server for virtual DNS. You can get this IP address from your service provider. For example, 10.0.0.2.

5. Two names that you will register with your domain registrar with the above IP addresses. These names are assigned to the your primary and secondary name servers to which the higher level domain transfers control when it gets a request to resolve a name in your zone. Note that these host names need not be the same as the host name of your server. For example, ns1.web.example.net, ns2.web.example.net

6. Optional: If you want to resolve IP addresses to host names, you need to own an IP address range. For example: 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.255.

## Instructions

To set up Ensim Pro as a DNS server when you do not own the Ensim Pro server's domain:

1. Tell the outside world about the two name servers (primary and secondary) that you are going to create. To do that, contact your domain registrar and register the two DNS host names and two IP addresses that you own. How the DNS change request works
   .

For example, you could do the following if your server was in the domain example.net:

- Register ns1.web.example.net with IP address 10.0.0.1 as the primary name server for the zone example.net.

- Register ns2.web.example.net with IP address 10.0.0.2 as the secondary name server for the zone example.net.

1. Important: Please be very careful with this step. If you make a mistake, your name servers will never be contacted, and your zone will not work.

2. You might also need to tell the outside world about the name servers that will carry out the reverse translations (from IP address to name) for your zone. Contact your service provider or domain registrar to find out whether they delegate in-addr.arpa zones to your control for the IP address block(s) you are assigned. If not, while you will still be able to create PTR (pointer) entries in Ensim Pro, they will have no effect and, for each domain you create in your zone, you will need to submit a change request in the in-addr.arpa space to your service provider.

Classless delegation is a method for doing reverse resolution delegation on non-octet boundaries for address spaces covering fewer than 256 addresses. It is an advanced DNS administration feature and requires that your service provider has given you authority over the in-addr.arpa zones for the IP address block(s) you are assigned. If you need to setup classless in-addr.arpa delegation, it is recommended that you read and follow RFC 2317. You can find it at http://www.dns.net/dnsrd/rfc/rfc2317.html.

For example, you could do the following for in-addr.arpa zones delegated to you if your server was in the domain example.net:

1. Register ns1.web.example.net with IP address 10.0.0.1 as the primary name server for the zone 0.0.10.in-addr.arpa

2. Register ns2.web.example.net with IP address 10.0.0.2 as the secondary name server for the zone 0.0.10.in-addr.arpa

3. With your registrar, verify that your primary and secondary DNS host names match the host names you registered above.

4. In the shortcuts section of the Appliance Administrator Home
   page, click Add IP-Based Site in the Sites section. Using the default plan, complete the Add IP-based site form. Provide the name and IP address of the site that you will use to manage the name servers (information items 2 and 3 above), as well as the administrator information. Then, click Add.

For example, if your server was in the domain example.net, you could create an IP-based site with name web.example.net and the IP address 10.0.0.1.

- Important: After you set up Ensim Pro as your DNS server, do not remove this site. This site will host your name servers; removing it removes your name servers and disables Ensim Pro as your DNS server.

5. Add address (A) records for the your new primary and secondary name servers. Follow these steps:

1. In the shortcuts section of the Appliance Administrator home page, click Zones in the DNS section.

2. Locate the line with the name of the IP-based site you created in step 4, for example, web.example.net, then click . The site's (or zone's) host list is displayed.

3. From the Add drop-down list, choose Address (A) record.

4. On the Add Address (A) Record form, type the name of the server that will be your primary name server. In this example, you would type the server name ns1. web.example.net is already provided.

5. Type the IP address of the server that will be your new primary name server in the IP address text box. In this example that would be 10.0.0.1,. Leave the checkbox Update Reverse Address Record checked.

6. Click Add. Ignore warnings about missing reverse zones.

7. Repeat steps c through f to add an address (A) record for the server that will be your secondary name server. In this example, the second name server is ns2.web.example.net with IP address 10.0.0.2.

6. Tell Ensim Pro about the two name servers you just added entries for. Follow these steps:

1. From the Add drop-down list on the your zone's Host list page, choose Name Server (NS) Record.

2. On the Add Name Server (NS) Record form, leave Name server zone text box blank.

3. In the Name server text box type the name of the server that will be your primary name server, for example, ns1.web.example.net, then click Add.

4. Repeat steps a and b for the server that will be your secondary name server. In this example, the secondary name server is ns2.web.example.net.

7. On the Host List form, review the name servers you added. Remove the NS records for any other name servers on the list for this zone by clicking in the Actions column of those servers.

8. Specify which of the two name servers just created is primary and which is secondary. Follow these steps:

1. On the DNS submenu, click Configuration (or click Configuration in the DNS shortcuts area of the home page).

2. On the Configuration: Name Servers form, click in the Actions column of the Primary Master.

3. On the Primary Master Setting form, type the name of the server you want to be your primary master, for example ns1.web.example.net, then click Save.

4. On the Configuration: Name Servers form, click in the Actions column of the Secondary Server.

5. On the Secondary Server/Virtual DNS Setting form, Click Virtual DNS radio button, then type the name of the server you want to be your secondary server, for example, ns2.web.example.net.

6. In the IP Address text box, type the IP address of your secondary server, for example, 10.0.0.2, then click Save.

9. To complete the process, you need to restart the Ensim Pro DNS Service. Follow these steps:

1. On the left navigation bar, click Services.

2. On the Subscribed Services form, find the DNS service.

3. In the Actions column of the DNS service, click (stop service), then click (start service). It is important to stop and then start DNS at this point instead of simply restarting the service. Restarting does not clear the DNS cache or set up the secondary name server.

The name server settings are established, and they are automatically copied into every domain that is created on the server.

# Checking your work

After you set up Ensim Pro as a name server, you need to wait 24 hours or more for the name server information to propagate throughout the Internet
. While you wait, it is a good idea to check that your server names resolve properly. To do this you will need to make a Telnet or SSH connection or to the server hosting Ensim Pro and use the nslookup tool. You can also check from several locations or dialup services.

To check your server names from the server hosting Ensim Pro:

1. Telnet or SSH to the server.

2. Edit the /etc/resolv.conf file to tell the server to use the local name server. To do this, add, as the first ‘nameserver’ line (this comes after the ‘search’ line):

nameserver 127.0.0.1

3. Use the nslookup command to verify that the server is resolving. All these should yield successful results:

nslookup ns1.web.example.net

nslookup ns2.web.example.net

nslookup web.example.net

nslookup 10.0.0.1 (if you set up a reverse zone)

To check from your local workstation:

1. You will want to start checking and verify that changes take place starting 24 hours after you make the changes with your domain registrar. If you cannot resolve the host names then verify your domain host names have changed.

2. Open a command window, “CMD” for Windows NT/2000 or a UNIX command shell.

3. Use the nslookup command to verify that the server is resolving. All these should yield successful results.

nslookup ns1.web.example.net

nslookup ns2.web.example.net

nslookup web.example.net

nslookup 10.0.0.1 (if you set up a reverse zone)

If the above does not work use your favorite ‘whois’ tool to verify your domain has been updated at the registrar.

When you create a site, simply tell your customers to give out your primary and secondary name server names and their IP addresses to the domain name registrar and create the site. Ensim Pro will take care of everything else!

If you use Ensim Pro as a name server, you can also use it to manage:

- Virtual DNS servers

- Aliases (CNAME records)

- MX records

Next Quick-start topic:

Monitoring a site's bandwidth usage