How exactly does the nameserver system work?

Hi there,

I am probably a beginner to intermediate experience when dealing with
networks, DNS and the like, I have owned a few domains, made an ameteur
website, that kind of thing.

And I think its high time someone explained the whole DNS system
properly.

Trouble is, I cant do that because I am struggling to understand some
things myself.

I understand that there is a higher authority , namely ICANN and IANA
that as far as I see it is "the" controlling authority of the internet
and for all intensive purposes "owns" the internet.

I also understand the whole process of parsing a DNS record goes from
the root reading right to left, for example:

mail.secondary.primary.com. : mail <----- secondary <-------
primary <-------- com <----- .

I also understand that at the top of the chain there are root servers,
these all important servers that keep records of all the servers that
contain records for top level domains.

Root servers ( . ) ------>
-------> com , net , uk, biz etc servers
------->

and that top level domain servers will contain the values for (in the
example above)

TLD (com etc) ----->
-------> primary1, primary2, primary3
------->

and down like that.at some point one of these servers is going to
return the IP address of the server requested.

But i always get confused by the domain registration....

Whenever you query the whois you get a set of name servers attached to
the domain.

And you can change these name servers if you own the domain.

These name servers, are they owned by the ISP? Who maintains them? Who
owns them? Where do they come from?

For example, I run the server in my office, and all workstations use it
as the DNS server which obviously updates from other servers, and there
is the public DNS server 4.2.2.1.

But say I wanted to set up a web server, with a domain name, but i
didnt go through an ISP, how would I connect to the internet? and then
would I have to set up my own name servers?

I need some kind of overall view of the system. are there a limited
amount of name servers, or do they sping up everywhere?

I need some kind of overview. If I surmised that:

I have a web server with a website on it
-> I buy a domain from Nominet UK exampledomain.co.uk
-> I get a static IP address for my web server
-> I set up my own name server to point to the IP address?
-> I register the name server with nominet?
-> root servers and the like can now find my server?

would I be correct in this thinking?

Gregory Orton

Agix wrote:
> These name servers, are they owned by the ISP?
They can be owned by anyone who's connected to the Internet: the ISP,
the owner of the domain, a third-party service, the guy next door,...
> Who maintains them?
Whoever is paid to do so (or volunteers to do it for free)
> Who owns them? Where do they come from?
See above.

> But say I wanted to set up a web server, with a domain name, but i
> didnt go through an ISP, how would I connect to the internet?

You must "go through an ISP" (by definition) to get the physical
connection to the Internet.

> and
> then would I have to set up my own name servers?

That's one possibility. As I told above, you can also buy the service
from someone, or you can run the primary server by yourself and buy
secondary (slave) DNS service from outside.

> I need some kind of overview. If I surmised that:
>
> I have a web server with a website on it
> -> I buy a domain from Nominet UK exampledomain.co.uk
> -> I get a static IP address for my web server
> -> I set up my own name server to point to the IP address?
> -> I register the name server with nominet?
> -> root servers and the like can now find my server?
>
> would I be correct in this thinking?

Yes, that's one possible setup, but AFAIK most registrars require at
least two DNS servers for each domain.

--
Markku Kolkka
(E-Mail Removed)

Agix wrote:
> Whenever you query the whois you get a set of name servers attached to
> the domain.
>
> And you can change these name servers if you own the domain.
>
> These name servers, are they owned by the ISP?

Might be owned by an ISP might be unrelated to an ISP.


> Who maintains them?

The owners


> Who owns them?

Could be anyone. Any machine can be a DNS server - the requirements are
availability (always on) and accessibility (basically a static IP address).


> Where do they come from?

They are specified by the domain owner. The domain owner set ups DNS
servers for the domain or arranges to use someone else's.


> But say I wanted to set up a web server, with a domain name, but i
> didnt go through an ISP, how would I connect to the internet?

The connectivity is probably through an ISP.


> and then
> would I have to set up my own name servers?

You either set up your own machines to run DNS or you arrange with
someone else to use theirs.


> I need some kind of overall view of the system. are there a limited
> amount of name servers, or do they sping up everywhere?

There are a limited number of root servers but after that every domain
could have its own server distinct from any other.


> I need some kind of overview. If I surmised that:
>
> I have a web server with a website on it
> -> I buy a domain from Nominet UK exampledomain.co.uk
> -> I get a static IP address for my web server
> -> I set up my own name server to point to the IP address?

Either that or get someone to host it for you.


> -> I register the name server with nominet?

Yes.


> -> root servers and the like can now find my server?
>
> would I be correct in this thinking?

Basically.


--
Paul

On Fri, 06 Oct 2006 05:16:41 -0700, Agix wrote:

> Hi there,
>
> I am probably a beginner to intermediate experience when dealing with
> networks, DNS and the like, I have owned a few domains, made an ameteur
> website, that kind of thing.
>
> And I think its high time someone explained the whole DNS system properly.

Somebody did. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/dns5/

An essential book if you want to understand DNS properly.

Regards, Ian