domain names - is this normal?

[AlexStacey]

I'm setting up a web/mail server and when I type these at the command line, this is what I get:

#dnsdomainname
easydservers.com

#domainname
(none)

#ypdomainname
(none)

#nisdomainname
(none)

The 3 'none' entries concern me a bit but also the dnsdomainname entry because easydservers.com is who i'm renting the server from but it's not the domain of the site I'm setting up. Can I just change it or will that cause problems?

Thanks in advance,

Alex =]

[rcgreen]

You will have to set up a name server for your domain,
or have someone else like the company that registered
it do it for you. If you don't have a static ip address, you
will also have to have to have it dynamically updated.

http://www.dyndns.com/

[AlexStacey]

thanks for the reply,

I have a static IP address and I'm not sure if I need to set up a name server or not. At the moment the domain reg company has the domain pointing to my IP.

Do you think I need to set up a name server or would I just be able to change these domain settings?

(I'm sorry, as you may have realised, I'm new to this!)

Alex =]

[genesus]

if your ip ever changes just forward the domain to the new ip...no need for dyndns etc

[Roxoff]

Take a look at the manpage for 'domainname' and the others - they're all on one page.

dnsdomainname - shows the DNS domain name.
domainname, ypdomainname, nisdomainname - all show the NIS/YP domainname.

NIS/YP is an old, insecure service that serves passwords over the network for local authentication against a central password database. Normally you dont share this information over the internet, and its quite normal if you dont use NIS or YP for these to be completely blank.

[AlexStacey]

great. thanks for the advice!

I'm slowly getting an understanding of all this although there's still quite a bit I need to figure out. i'm just reading up on:

etc/hosts
etc/host.conf
etc/resolv.conf

as well and think i probably need to configure these as well.

Is changing the main hostname and domainname in the etc/hosts file likely to cause problems?

Is it worth me configuring BIND9 or should I just leave all the DNS stuff to the people I registered the domain with?

I just want a single domain to be locked into this IP and for all mail to be sent / received through whoever@thedomainname.co.uk

Again, thanks for the help.

Alex =]

[rcgreen]

It's probably ok to let them handle it. If your domain
resolves to your ip address that's the only important issue.
Now, all you have to do is set up a mail server.
Good luck!

[Roxoff]

Yeah, for your main domain, I'd let your ISP keep handling the DNS entries. If you're planning to hang a network of multiple machines behind that IP address, however, you may want to consider using a local dns server for the private address space behind your router/firewall, which is not visible from the internet.