DNS Questions

[DogAndPony]

Hi, gang!

I'll be moving web service -- and just web service for now -- for a client's site to FQ, and need to confirm my DNS changes so the move goes smoothly.

Most importantly, I don't change their mail service; they've got their incoming mail running through Trend Micro, and I want to make sure that and outgoing mail are left unchanged.

From the looks of their control panel at their current host, it seems to me that I should just be able to:

1) Change the A record for www to point to the IP of the FQ server...
2) Leave the A record for mail alone... and
3) Leave the MX records alone.

From what I understand, that should safely direct www. traffic to the new site at FQ, but not web requests without the www prefix.

To get that to work, I'd need to:

4) Change the A record for @ and...
5) Change the A record for * to both point to the FQ web server IP.

But will changing those two records interfere with mail delivery? I'm thinking not, but I want to be sure.

If we had time to wait and transfer the domain to my registrar account, and then move all service to FQ at once, we would, but they want to launch the new site asap. (It's nice that they're excited!)

Here's a totally munged copy of their records for notation if you like:

-----------------
Name Server Records (NS)
Prefix Points To
@ ns3.example.com. (PRIMARY)
@ ns4.example.com.

Host Records (A)
Prefix Points To
@ 255.255.255.1
* 255.255.255.1
www 255.255.255.2
vpn 255.255.255.50
mail 255.255.255.100
ts 255.255.255.150

Mail Exchange Records (MX)
Prefix Points To Priority
@ somesubdomain.trendmicro.com. 1

Alias Records (CNAME)
Prefix Points To
ftp www.myclientsorganization.org.

SPF Record
Prefix Value
@ v=spf1 mx ptr:static-255-255-255-255.somecenter.dsl-w.exampleisp.net mx:mail.myclientsorganization.org -all
-----------------

TIA!

[Kevin]

You are correct that changing the A record for www.domain will move the www.domain traffic to the FutureQuest servers.

If you change the A record for the domain itself then any connection using just the domain name will go to the FutureQuest servers. The MX and NS records are special cases where they point to a name which has its own A record. The email will continue to go to whatever IP address is in the A record(s) for the host name that is in the MX record(s).

IOW:
www.domain IN A 1.1.1.1
domain IN A 1.1.1.1
domain IN MX other.mailserver
other.mailserver IN A 2.2.2.2
That will send the email to 2.2.2.2 and anything else destined to domain or www.domain to 1.1.1.1.

[Kevin]

Or if you prefer the djbdns syntax:
=domain:1.1.1.1
+www.domain:1.1.1.1
@domain:other.mailserver
=other.mailserver:2.2.2.2

[DogAndPony]

Hey, Kevin!

Not sure I follow... Would that format as they have it in their control panel into:

Name Server Records (NS)
Prefix Points To
@ ns3.example.com. (PRIMARY)
@ ns4.example.com.

Host Records (A)
Prefix Points To
* 1.1.1.1
www 1.1.1.1
@ 2.2.2.2
mail 2.2.2.2

Mail Exchange Records (MX)
Prefix Points To Priority
@ somesubdomain.trendmicro.com. 1 ...?

And what about the SPF Record?

SPF Record
Prefix Value
@ v=spf1 mx ptr:static-255-255-255-255.lsanca.dsl-w.exampleisp.net mx:mail.myclientsorganization.org -all

Do I need to deal with that at all?

[Kevin]

I don't know about your control panel. I don't even know which one it is.
But if you point an A record to an IP then any connection other than email will go to that IP once any cached data expires.

Email is a special case where it goes to the IP that is pointed to by an A record that is pointed to by the host name in the MX record. This was setup years ago to allow '[telnet|ftp|http]domain to go to the main server while email to *@domain went to the email server.

So, if your MX record points to "somesubdomain.trendmicro.com" then the email for *@domain will go to whatever IP somesubdomain.trendmicro.com maps to.

The SPF record deals with where email will be coming FROM. If that is changing then the SPF record needs to be changed.

[DogAndPony]

I don't know about your control panel. I don't even know which one it is.Doesn't matter... I thought you could tell if what I posted would be equivalent of what you posted.

Anyway, from what I gather, to move only web service, this is what I do:

-----------------
A Records:
www -- point to FQ server IP
@ -- point to FQ server IP
* -- point to FQ server IP
mail -- leave alone

MX records -- leave alone.

SPF Record -- leave alone.
-----------------

Sound right?

[Kevin]

Sounds right to me. The only way I could think of it being wrong is if you have other services running under *.domain and since you are already using *.domain I doubt that is the case.

Of course if you setup a MySQL account at FutureQuest you will want to make an A record for mysql.domain pointing to whichever MySQL server you end up on.

[DogAndPony]

Sounds right to me.Groovy!The only way I could think of it being wrong is if you have other services running under *.domain and since you are already using *.domain I doubt that is the case.Yeah, I don't think they do... I'll ask their IT guy to make sure.Of course if you setup a MySQL account at FutureQuest you will want to make an A record for mysql.domain pointing to whichever MySQL server you end up on.I'm pretty sure that by the time we have that need, I will have moved all DNS and mail service to FQ.

Speaking of which, if I make these A record changes now... When it comes time to move everything to FQ, do I simply point NS at ns1.futurequest.net, etc.? That would give the domain fresh new A Records, wouldn't it? Or would I need to do something before moving NS?

[Kevin]

When you want to go all FutureQuest you just point your domain registration at ns[123].futurequest.net and we totally take over your DNS. We manage all of the records for you at that point. Then you can tell the old provider about it or you can just let that account expire.

We always set that up for all accounts so you can query our DNS servers manually if you want to find out what data they would serve if the domain registration was pointed at them. Run 'dig @ns1.futurequest.net [query]' for that.

[DogAndPony]

Cool...

Thanks as always, Kevin!

:bow: