Way over my head

Discussion in 'Site & Server Administration' started by dcristo, Sep 1, 2005.

  1. #1
    My bro is wanting to host his company site on my servers, however here's where the problem lies. He currently uses a separate mail server on the domain for email so the domain is already delegated to that mail server. I've never faced this kinda problem before and I'd really appreciate any advice anyone can give with regard to how to now host the domain/site on my separate web server whilst not mucking up the config for the mail server. Is it just a matter of keeping the existing name servers for the domain and adding the two additional name servers to point to the web server?

    Cheers
     
    dcristo, Sep 1, 2005 IP
  2. J.D.

    J.D. Peon

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    #2
    A mail server for the domain is pointed to by DNS MX records. You can run the following commands (same for Windows/Linux) to figure out what those are and configure your DNS server similarly:

    nslookup
    set type=mx
    domain.com.

    The response will be a list of mail servers for this domain. Each sending SMTP server will do the same and then lookup IP address for the returned domain name(s).

    Use www.dnsreport.com to verify your MX records and other DNS settings.

    J.D.
     
    J.D., Sep 1, 2005 IP
  3. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #3
    Thanks JD for your response, but where am I inputting:

    nslookup
    set type=mx
    domain.com.

    ???
     
    dcristo, Sep 1, 2005 IP
  4. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #4
    Using the tool you gave me, the domain displays 3 separate MX records... so?
     
    dcristo, Sep 1, 2005 IP
  5. J.D.

    J.D. Peon

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    #5
    Command prompt. What are you running Windows or Lunux?
     
    J.D., Sep 1, 2005 IP
  6. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #6
    Well I've identified the 3 separate MX records with your tool, but how would I go about configuring the DNS server similarly?
     
    dcristo, Sep 1, 2005 IP
  7. J.D.

    J.D. Peon

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    #7
    You need to edit your DNS records. How, will depend on what software you are using. If you have some kind of a control panel for your server, you can use its UI. If you are running a DNS server on Windows, there's a DNS console. If you are running Linux, you can simply edit your DNS settings file. Usually adding a record like this will do:

    @   MX   10   mail.domain.com.
    Code (markup):
    Number 10 is the priority of this server. If you have several mail servers, you can assign lower values to your primary servers.

    J.D.
     
    J.D., Sep 1, 2005 IP