domain registration

[Jay]

ok..guys...here is what i need, im new to domain registration,im ready to do
this...now i got a domain setup, ie mydomain.com so when i register my
domain....does it point to me some how,,,,what im trying to do is use
exchange with my domain for emails.....got it setup and working....but when
i do send mail to one of the domains accounts how does it know where to
go...when i register the domain will it interact with my own dns sever in my
domain....or how does it query my domain to recieve mail...thanks guys

 

[Kevin D. Goodknecht Sr. [MVP]]

In

ok..guys...here is what i need, im new to domain registration,im
ready to do this...now i got a domain setup, ie mydomain.com so
when i register my domain....does it point to me some how,,,,what im
trying to do is use exchange with my domain for emails.....got it
setup and working....but when i do send mail to one of the domains
accounts how does it know where to go...when i register the domain
will it interact with my own dns sever in my domain....or how does it
query my domain to recieve mail...thanks guys

You should really let your registrar host your public DNS zone, most do not
charge extra for this beyond the registration fee.
Your Public DNS zone will need an MX record pointing to a host record that
resolves to your external IP address, that address should forward incoming
connections on port 25 and port 110 to the IP of your mail server.
Your exchange server should use you internal DNS server which should be able
to resolve external addresses through the use of forwarders or Root Hints.
Your internal mail server does not need to see MX records for mail domains
it hosts, but it must be configured to recieve mail for domains that have MX
records pointing to this mail server's host name.

Your internal DNS server is used only to resolve you internal network it
should have a zone that contains a record that resolves to your mail
server's private address so that it can be accessed by name from internal
clients that cannot access it by its public address. No outside mail server
or client should be allowed to access your internal DNS server. If they are
allowed to access your internal DNS server, it will return a private
non-routable IP address that is no good to anybody but the machines behind
your NAT device.

 

[Herb Martin]

Kevin and I agree on this. Unless you have a better choice
go to www.Register.Com and purchase your Domain name.

They will provide the DNS servers as part of the price --
they will also give you a "little" web site (5 pages or something)
that will hold your place on the web until you get a web site
of your own (you can of course edit it, disable it, or move it to your
place at any time.)

They have a web interface to 'YOUR' DNS servers at their site;
you add A-host records, MX-records for your email server etc.

Then you can run your Exchange or other SMTP to catch email
on your own machine -- it's easy if you have a STATIC IP, or...

If you have a dynamic IP, you can also go to (many place but
here's a good one) DynDNS.org (<== ORG) and get a free
account to register a name with them that point to yours dynamicly
addressed server.

This name is something like [ smtp.dynalias.com ] so you have one
more step:

Go back to Register.com and make your MX record point to
THAT name (you picked at DynDNS.org). You can also
add CNAME to that name for things like WWW or FTP if
you want that to work also.

How it works?

When I want to send you an email -- assume you are (e-mail address removed)

My email server receives the outbound email and hunts your DNS
(at Register.Com) for the MX record.

[In this scenario the email server is probably using it's own DNS
server to help with all this resolution but we'll simplify.]

How does it find Register.com? It went to the root of the Internet
and asked the "." (root) servers how to find .Com DNS servers,
from there it asked how to find 'your.com' DNS and ended up
asking it for that MX record.

Let's say the MX points to YourServer.DynAlias.Com.

Ok, so it's got the NAME of the mail server (MX record) but now
we need the ADDRESS -- my email server (with the help of it's
DNS server, remember) goes through a similar process and finds
that You.DynAlias.Com address record which we can contact
directly using IP routing.

Cool, right?

My server calls your server with email and we can "do lunch."
<grin>

 

[Jay]

ok herb, here is my problem,maybe not though...can i run this exchage from
inside a firewall....cause whe i hit send it cant find the server, which
register.com told me all i had to do was add my IP, and add a MX record in
my account manager with them....now...what im wondering if is since i got a
dns server here if its going to interferr with operations since it points to
my server as a 192.168.0.2 with is A record, is there something i need to
add to my dns server....to get it to work...thanks alot man

Kevin and I agree on this. Unless you have a better choice
go to www.Register.Com and purchase your Domain name.

They will provide the DNS servers as part of the price --
they will also give you a "little" web site (5 pages or something)
that will hold your place on the web until you get a web site
of your own (you can of course edit it, disable it, or move it to your
place at any time.)

They have a web interface to 'YOUR' DNS servers at their site;
you add A-host records, MX-records for your email server etc.

Then you can run your Exchange or other SMTP to catch email
on your own machine -- it's easy if you have a STATIC IP, or...

If you have a dynamic IP, you can also go to (many place but
here's a good one) DynDNS.org (<== ORG) and get a free
account to register a name with them that point to yours dynamicly
addressed server.

This name is something like [ smtp.dynalias.com ] so you have one
more step:

Go back to Register.com and make your MX record point to
THAT name (you picked at DynDNS.org). You can also
add CNAME to that name for things like WWW or FTP if
you want that to work also.

How it works?

When I want to send you an email -- assume you are (e-mail address removed)

My email server receives the outbound email and hunts your DNS
(at Register.Com) for the MX record.

[In this scenario the email server is probably using it's own DNS
server to help with all this resolution but we'll simplify.]

How does it find Register.com? It went to the root of the Internet
and asked the "." (root) servers how to find .Com DNS servers,
from there it asked how to find 'your.com' DNS and ended up
asking it for that MX record.

Let's say the MX points to YourServer.DynAlias.Com.

Ok, so it's got the NAME of the mail server (MX record) but now
we need the ADDRESS -- my email server (with the help of it's
DNS server, remember) goes through a similar process and finds
that You.DynAlias.Com address record which we can contact
directly using IP routing.

Cool, right?

My server calls your server with email and we can "do lunch."
<grin>

 

[Herb Martin]

ok herb, here is my problem,maybe not though...can i run this exchage from

inside a firewall....

Yes, maybe, it takes special setup.

register.com told me all i had to do was add my IP, and add a MX record in
my account manager with them....now...what im wondering if is since i got a
dns server here if its going to interferr with operations since it points to
my server as a 192.168.0.2 with is A record, is there something i need to
add to my dns server....to get it to work...thanks alot man

You internal DNS cannot interfer with access from the Internet.

BUT -- what address did you enter at Register.Com for the
A record associated with the MX and the Email server.

That address must be publicly accessible (not from the private
ranges) and must belong to YOU.

If your email server is TOTALLY internal, then you must have
a NAT that can map to it. (Or the server must be on the firewall/
gateway/router so that one side is on the public net.)

For instance, you setup Win2000/NAT or ISA and you map the
external address on Port 25 to the internal address of the Email
server -- set the A record to the NAT/ISA public address and
the MX to the A.

Now the world finds the MX, resolves to the A, contacts the
NAT/ISA. The NAT maps the traffic on port 25 public side
and relays to the email server on port 25 internal server.

Voila!

All this assumes you have a static IP from your ISP -- if not,
we have to talk some more.