In computing, a name server (sometimes also spelled nameserver) consists of a program or computer server that implements a name service protocol (NSP). It maps a human recognizable identifier to a system internal, often numeric, identification or addressing component. The most prominent types of name servers in operation today are the name servers of the Domain Name System (DNS), one of the two principal name spaces of the Internet. The most important function of these DNS servers is the translation (resolution) of humanly memorable domain names and hostnames into the corresponding numeric Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, the second principal Internet name space, used to identify and locate computer systems and resources on the Internet.
Name servers from HostGator
HostGator Name servers are how the customers designate their domain to see the HostGator server and use its web space to show their website on the Internet. A name server is a server that returns an IP address when given a domain name. This IP address is basically the location of the domain on the Internet. Sometimes name servers are referred as DNS servers (and vice versa) because they essentially perform the same function. When given a domain name, they return the IP address for that domain. The difference is that with DNS, the domain owner will be setting the IP addresses to the domain of the customer and their mail server(s). Basically, DNS is where the customer set the IP address for his domain while with the Name servers; the customer web host sets the IP address for himself.
The registration of the domain names is getting cheaper and cheaper. The users may be offered the registration at wholesale price of $6.50 or even lower. Some registrar is selling at $15 or more. But they have big differences in their working as they have in their costs.
Users normally look around in search of cheaper domain name registration and try to do as much saving as then could. They search through the web, and can find a number of domain registrars and compare each of them for the best deal and finally only sign up to them. But the domain names that are sold cheap usually are using single domain name server. Even they are giving the customers two name servers for the domain known as the primary name server and the secondary name server. And the two servers are probably located in the same data center. Selling few hundred domain names, and everyone is pointed to these two servers. This in fact loads a huge network burden on the server having huge number of domain names on them.
But the HostGator domain names servers are not that ordinary and cheap quality service domain names servers. HostGator domain name is sold at $15 per year, and they are using multiple DNS servers group and redundantly located in few locations. http://www.hostgatorreview.org/hostgator/hostgator-domain/. It is like having remote backup for the domain name of the client as well. When he client is having redundant backup facilities like this one, its downtime will become the minimum. And easily goes beyond industry standard. This in fact reflects the quality of the hosted applications and the owner of the hosted applications too.
Primary and Secondary Name Servers
Typically, a single name server will be configured as the primary name server for a domain. For backup purposes, a number of other name servers may be configured as secondary name servers. From the standpoint of DNS, there is no difference between primary and secondary name servers, since the resolving algorithm simply uses a NS record of the domain in the order provided. Typically, the primary name server is listed first, followed by the secondary, but this is not a requirement. In fact, if a group of domains is served by a set of name servers, the ordering of the name servers may be mixed among the domains, to facilitate load balancing.
A primary name server of the domain will have a file on disk containing the RR definitions for that domain. Typically, secondary name servers do not have to be known to the primary. However, some sites, not wishing to publicly distribute copies of their entire domain, restrict zone transfers to pre configured hosts. Secondary name servers depend on zone transfers for their operation.
Typically, a secondary name server will perform a zone transfer to acquire a complete copy of the RR database of the primary server, often saving this copy on disk. Periodically, the record of the primary SOA for the domain is checked for changes in its SERIAL field. Upon detecting a change, the secondary performs another zone transfer to acquire the updated information. Therefore, the SERIAL field in a SOA record of the domain must be changed every time a change is made within the domain.
The timing of secondary updates is governed by several fields in the SOA record of the domain. The secondary server checks the primaries NS record every REFRESH seconds. If one cannot perform a scheduled check, it retries every RETRY seconds. If a check cannot be performed for EXPIRE seconds, then all the records of the secondary domain for that domain are discarded, and it begins to return errors to lookup requests.
Private Name Servers
Private name servers would be ns1.clientdomain.com and ns2.clientdomain.com. For ns1.clientdomain.com the IP would be the IP listed in the customer welcome email.
For ns2.clientdomain.com the IP would be the same except change the last number in the IP to be one digit higher. Example: If the IP listed in the customer welcome email was 69.93.193.74 then the ns2.domain.com name servers IP would be 69.93.193.75.
Benefits of Private Name Servers
There are many acknowledgeable benefits of having a private name server for additional cost. Many resellers choose to have their own name servers for appearance reasons. Using HostGator anonymous name servers of ns1.websitewelcome.com and ns2.websitewelcome.com can be less professional looking for a hosting company. Other than the “look” of using private name servers, when the customer move from one server to another, he will not need to contact all of their clients and request that they change to new name servers. Their clients will begin propagating to the new server as soon as user updates their name server IP addresses. This is extremely helpful if the customer outgrow his reseller account and need to upgrade to a VPS or dedicated server.
Purchasing the Private SSL
HostGator provides Comodo SSL certificates for private SSL with limit up to 256 bits encryption for a cost of $150 for a year. This is provided with free installation facility. To purchase an SSL, the type of account must be confirmed. The accounts are classified according to the type of the clients in three categories as follows:
* Shared Web Hosting Clients
* Resellers Clients
* Dedicated Server Clients
Comodo SSL’s are trusted protocol of Internet browsers (equal to VeriSign and Thawte certificates) by over 99.3%. The only difference between one SSL type and another is the browser recognition The most common web browsers are: all Firefox 2+, Internet Explorer 5+, Netscape 4+, AOL 5+ and Opera 5+ and now they avail pre-installed certificate with all Windows and Mac OS operating systems.
Getting a Private Name server setup
The customers would need to create the name servers at the place they get their domain registered from. Every type of registration is having a different process for creating private name servers. The customer can purchase his domain from one of the below registrars:
* directNIC
* Dotster
* Enom
* GoDaddy
* Network Solutions
* OpenSRS
* 000domains.com
The customers may try and look for something along the lines of “register DNS” “create DNS” or “add DNS” from their account with the registrar of the company. The only way to create Name Servers is by using the IP addresses company assigned to their ns1 and ns2.yourdomain.com if there is not a field asking for the IP, user can expect to not to be at the right place and may need more exploration.
DNS Update
VeriSign (through their involvement in the management of the root DNS servers on the net) has pushed out a change so if the customer have private Name servers set at their registrar, then their DNS server must have a matching A record or the site will not resolve. The way around this is to simply add an A record to the DNS zone for each Name server.
Changing or Updating their domains DNS is not the same thing as registering name servers. User need not change their sites DNS to private name servers until their private name servers are registered with their domain registrar. Some registrars do not even have an option for user to create private name servers on their own. In many cases emailing them to do it is the only option. After the customer Name servers have been created, now they must add the necessary A records to his domain.
Creating the A records
After the customer Name servers have been created, now they must add the necessary A records to his domain. To create the A record in the domain name server, one can follow the below mentioned steps:
1. Login to WHM and look under DNS Functions.
2. Click Edit DNS Zone and select the primary domain (the one that appears in their private name servers).
3. Click the Edit button and wait for the page to load.
4. Check their welcome email for the correct name server IPs. For example:
* ns1.resellerdomain.com -> 123.123.123.123
* ns2.resellerdomain.com -> 123.123.123.124
5. This is exactly the information they need for the record name and address. Almost done!
6. Back at WHM, scroll down to where they see “Add New Entries Below this Line”.
7. In the first blank below that line, type ns1
8. Skip the 14400, and in the drop down select “A”.
9. A new box will appear. Erase “IP or Hostname” and type their NS1 IP address. For example: 123.123.123.123
10. In the second blank below that line, type ns2
11. Skip the 14400, and in the drop down select “A”.
12. A new box will appear. Erase “IP or Hostname” and type their NS2 IP address. EXAMPLE: 123.123.123.124
13. Scroll all the way down and click the Save button.
When the user gets to the last step, it should look similar to the screen shot given below:-
If this does not fix the problem f the user, then it needs to make sure that the it has registered the private Name servers first. To test if their private Name servers are correctly registered, it can ping each name.
Here is an example of a Name server which is not registered (ns1.mydomain.com), and then one that is registered (ns1.hostgator.com).
EXAMPLE PING TEST
C:\>ping ns1.mydomain.com
Ping request could not find host ns1.mydomain.com. Please check the name and try again.
C:\>ping ns1.hostgator.com
Pinging ns1.hostgator.com [67.18.54.2] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 67.18.54.2: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=56
Reply from 67.18.54.2: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=56
Reply from 67.18.54.2: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=56
Reply from 67.18.54.2: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=56
Ping statistics for 67.18.54.2:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 6ms, Maximum = 8ms, Average = 6ms
C:\>
After the A record update, the user and their clients will be able to use their private Name servers for all the domains which host with the user.
Changing DNS
Any time user make a DNS (domain name server) change it takes around twenty four to forty eight hours to get it complete. During this prorogation time routers all over the world are updating their cache. This causes their site to be up and down randomly during the first forty eight hours for different people at different times. The user can understand the DNS just like a zip code. If the user does not put a zip code on their mail the post office may not know where to send it. Domains are the same way if they do not have the DNS the Internet does not know what server to send their request to. Every registrar has a different procedure for changing their domains DNS, however they are all done basically the same way. The welcome email that the user received from HostGator provides the customer with the Name servers they need to change their domain to. They can then take those Name servers to wherever they bought their domain, and fill them in for their domain name. User name servers should look something like…
* ns1.hostgator.com
* ns2.hostgator.com