<HEAD><TITLE>MaraDNS tutorial</TITLE> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=utf-8"> </HEAD><BODY> <!-- Copyright 2005 Sam Trenholme TERMS Redistribution and use, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following condition is met: 1. Redistributions must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. This documentation is provided 'as is' with no guarantees of correctness or fitness for purpose. --> <H1>Introduction to DNS</H1> This document is meant to be an introduction to DNS for someone who has never administrated a DNS server or registered a domain before. Being a part of the MaraDNS package, this tutorial assumes that one is using the MaraDNS package. <H2>What is DNS?</H2> DNS is the method that the internet uses to convert difficult-to-remember numbers, such as '10.17.243.32', in to easy-to-remember names, such as 'www.yahoo.com'. The reason for this conversion is because the underlying protocol for the internet, TCP/IP, uses difficult-to-remember numbers to connect to other computers. <H2>What is a DNS server</H2> A <!-- This 'A' should be here --> <A href="glossary.html#dns_server"> <i>DNS server</i></A> is a program that performs the DNS conversion from names in to number. There are three kinds of DNS servers out there: <UL> <LI>DNS servers which can convert most <A href="glossary.html#dns_node"><i>DNS nodes</i></A> in to their corresponding number. These DNS servers are called <A href="glossary.html#recursive"> <i>recursive DNS servers</i></A>. This kind of server can not change the names of any <A href="glossary.html#dns_node"> <i>DNS nodes</i></A> out there. Instead, they simply ask other DNS servers the IP for a given DNS node. <p> This kind of DNS server does not depend on one's ISP DNS servers to resolve a given name, but directly contacts the relevant authoritative DNS servers anywhere on the internet to resolve a given DNS node. <LI>DNS servers which can only convert <A href="glossary.html#dns_node"> <i>DNS nodes</i></A> which a <A href="glossary.html#dns_admin"> <i>DNS server administrator</i></A> manages from DNS nodes in to IPs. The DNS server administrator can change the IPs that the DNS nodes have. These kinds of DNS servers are called <A href="glossary.html#authoritative"> <i>authoritative DNS servers</i></A>. Recursive DNS servers contact authoritative DNS servers in order to learn the IP for a given DNS node. <LI>DNS servers which simply cache information obtained from other recursive DNS servers. While, MaraDNS supports this type of configuration via the "upstream_servers" <A href=man.mararc.html>mararc</A> variable, MaraDNS can also act as a full fledged recursive DNS server. </UL> MaraDNS is both a recursive and an authoritative DNS server. Whether one needs a recursive or an authoritative DNS server depends on what one is trying to do with dns: <UL> <LI>If one simply wishes to contact other sites on the internet, one only needs to set up a <A href="glossary.html#recursive"> <i>recursive DNS server</i></A>. <A href=recursive.html>Tutorial for setting up MaraDNS as a recursive DNS server</A> <LI>If one wishes to register domains, and have their own computers serve the domain names in question, then one needs to set up an <A href="glossary.html#authoritative"> <i>authoritative DNS server</i></A>. <A href=authoritative.html>Tutorial for setting up MaraDNS as an authoritative DNS server.</A> <LI>If one has a current DNS setup using another DNS server, <A href=convert.html>this document details how to convert from another DNS server to MaraDNS</A>. </UL> </body>