How to setup a complete DNS architecture for Root I, II, III

[eWebtricity]

Something else that has been bothering me from the get go with 1and1 is how to properly setup DNS with a Root III server. Specifically in regards to who the SOA root servers should be, how to set it up, and how to better manage it.

We of course were in a rush to get the first 1and1 server setup and the only information we could get (our first experience with tech support) was a recommendation to use the 1and1 nameservers. So we set our names servers on our domains to point to 1and1 and then use their control panel to make updates and changes.

1and1 has been relatively responsive in DNS updates but we recently had a problem where their mail relay servers were rejecting email for a domain. By this time we were familiar with the run around from support so we opted to fix it ourselves by changing the nameservers to something we controlled and pointed the MX records to only the Root III server only.

So does anyone have any ideas, i'd like to compile a complete tutorial for others with recommendations.

[ajshea]

I am using ZoneEdit.com as my whois servers (you can host 5 domains for free). When I added a 1and1 Root server I changed my ZoneEdit servers to be slaves of my Root server and added the ZE server IPs to my root to allow zone updates. I also added the ZE servers as NS entries in my root zones and removed the NS reference to the root server so it would be considered a "stealth" nameserver. This way ZE gets all the DNS hits while my server controls all the zone info.

1. Sign up for free account at https://www.zoneedit.com
2. Setup my domain.com in 1and1 control panel to use the servers ZE assigned me for each of my domains. This takes ~ 48 hrs to propagate. Meanwhile, follow up with next steps.
3. Change each of the ZE zones to slaves of my root server IP.
4. Add the ZE IPs to the Allow zone transfers list on my Root Server.
5. Update each domain on my root server to list the ZE IPs as NS entries and remove the default NS entry referencing the root server IP.

Verify everything is set correctly with an evaluation from http://www.dnsreport.com

Alan

[brucew]

I don't do anything mix-and-match between my server and 1&1.

I lease a second IP address,
setup Plesk DNS,
in my domain I setup a nameserver entry on each IP (ns1.etc..., ns2.etc...),
at my domain registrar I added these as nameservers,
then I setup Reverse DNS through the 1&1 CP as explained in this thread: http://www.1and1faq.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=41

I don't have to worry about anything other than myself this way.

For most users, BTW, I have DNS access turned off. If they understand what they're doing, and are aware that mistakes will crash BIND and if that happens I'll beat their sorry ass, (Read: charge back my time to fix it and all support calls it caused) then I give them permissions.

Lemme know if you want my DNS Zone Templates for Plesk.