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If I set up a DNS server with BIND, does that effect this scenario ? (I'm under the impression that it does)

Again I'm under the impression that If I set up a DNS server then I can put up an apache and will be able to go to chrome and type blah.com and there's my webserver (what I mean is publicly and not just locally)

putting it the simplest way I can:

  1. 91.98.203.46 (this is my computer right now, It uses DHCP to obtain this IP, I will run an apache after I post this, there's a file named 2.jpg see If you can reach it )

  2. I have a couple of domain name purchased already one them is blah.com

  3. What should I do to be able to go to chrome and type blah.com instead of 91.98.203.46 (not just me, everybody, publicly, no host file)

  4. Without buying a static IP

In my head right now is like so even If I set up a DNS server then what? so I have to give my ISP an IP so they can put it in there DNS server and all for what so their servers could query my DNS server just for resolving my domain ? well If I'm buying a new static IP address why not just give them this IP address to put in their DNS server for my domain?

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  • You don't need to set up a bind server for this, you simply need to update the DNS records with your domain registrar, apparently RegistroCom.Com. Setting up a bind server in-and-of-itself really won't do anything to direct the public to your server.
    – nod
    Commented Aug 25, 2014 at 23:22
  • However, setting up A records with a DHCP sticky'ish IP address can be frustrating, being that it can take several hours for changes to propagate to root servers when the IP address inevitably changes.
    – nod
    Commented Aug 25, 2014 at 23:25
  • I was thinking not to just set up a BIND DNS server but to be a DNS server for Internet so I wouldn't have to deal with the damn hosting company. So what you mean is every time I get a new IP I go to the hosting company that I bought the domain from and say hey this is the IP for blah.com so from now on you send people to this computer right? (well that's not gonna cut it, because this IP changes at least once every three days)
    – mohammad
    Commented Aug 26, 2014 at 0:19
  • btw: did u get to the apache? try it now damn IP changed again: 188.245.54.175 tell me if u did ok?
    – mohammad
    Commented Aug 26, 2014 at 0:24

1 Answer 1

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You need to register with a dynamic DNS service: there are a number of free ones, easily found by searching the web.

This will give you a web address along the lines of mohammad.dynamicwebaddress.com. You will also get a client application which runs periodically in your web server (usually at intervals of between 5 and 30 minutes): this checks the public address of your web server and updates the DNS service each time it changes, though some routers can be set up to do this without needing this polling client.

This makes sure that mohammad.dynamicwebaddress.com always points to your web server - or, to be more precise, nearly always: when your public IP changes, there is a period until the the next client poll when your web site is inaccessible (up to whatever interval you chose).

The remaining task is to set your blah.com domain to point to mohammad.dynamicwebaddress.com, and your domain registrar should provide the facility to do this.

A couple of points to note:-

  • It seems as though you are trying to use a home broadband connection for your server: be aware that data from your site are down-loaded at your up-load speed.
  • Sooner or later your web site will be found by search engines and you will then get a lot of unwanted traffic, and some of it may be malevolent.
  • Depending on the data you need to access on your server and the people who need to access it, you might want to consider whether synchronising a home folder to a cloud site might be a better solution.

For what it's worth I use a cloud site for some data, but my photo and video collection are too large for this. I point my web domain at a public host site, then I have some hidden sub-pages which are not linked from the public web pages and which redirect to addresses on my home server: in your case blah.com would point to mohammad.publichost.com, so that blah.com/PrivateContent/ would point to mohammad.publichost.com/PrivateContent/index.htm, which would redirect to mohammad.dynamicwebaddress.com/Content, for example.

The redirection code is just a couple of lines of HTML, such as:

<html>
  <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
    <title>Home Content</title>
    <META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="1; URL=http://mohammad.dynamicwebaddress.com/Content">
  </head>
  <body>
    <h3>Redirecting ........</h3><br>
    If this page doesn't redirect you automatically in 5 seconds, <a href="http://mohammad.dynamicwebaddress.com/Content">click here</a>
  </body>
</html>

In this way I still use my domain, and the search engines find my public site, but my home server is protected from them, and data that I update infrequently and for which I need rapid access are available from the cloud.

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