[techtalk] Registering DNS servers

[Erin Clarke]

On Tue, Apr 10, 2001 at 02:17:07PM +1000, jenn at simegen.com wrote:
> Mary Gardiner wrote:
>> I thought that there were actually two more or less independent procedures.

There are...

>> 1) Registering a domain name, which can be done through endless registrars.

Well, ICANN Accredited Registrars... ;^)

>> 2) Registering a DNS server, which must be done though Network Solutions.

You mean the process for making your own nameserver
known by the root nameservers (here's a copy:
ftp://rs.internic.net/domain/root.zone)... ?

These URLs ought to help clarify the necessary steps:
http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/catalog/nameserver/
http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/makechanges/itts/host
ftp://ftp.networksolutions.com/templates/host-template.txt

Useful files at ftp://rs.internic.net/domain/
Like the list of root nameservers, for example:
ftp://rs.internic.net/domain/named.root

>> So can you only run a DNS server if you registered through network solutions, or
>> is there something I'm missing?

Not that I've done this yet, but I plan to set up
my own nameserver sometime in the not-too-distant
future, so I'm interested in discussion on this 
topic. AFAIK, you can/must register a nameserver, 
or host, with NSI even if the TLD is registered 
with another registrar.

For example, home.samurai.com is a registered host 
(nameserver) with NSI, but samurai.com is handled by
the Tucows/OpenSRS registrar.

> If you're in the domains (.com at least, I believe others) which 
> Network Solutions administers, then whatever other registration
> company you use, you're REALLY going through Network Solutions.
> The other company just handles it for you. (for a fee)

Unless you are going through an ICANN Accredited
registrar, like OpenSRS (http://opensrs.com),
http://rs.internic.net/regist.html

> If you're in other domains (.com.au, for instance) you deal with
> whoever administers THAT domain, both for registration and for 
> registering your nameserver. In the .com.au case, I believe it's 
> AUNIC .. or maybe Melbourne IT. :/

For Canada (.ca), its CIRA http://www.cira.ca/ 
but still, a nameserver/host must be registered 
with NSI...

Example: ns.uunet.ca - its there if you do a 
whois host ns.uunet.ca search at 
http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois 

Erin  8)