DNS configuration for dummies..help again

[the_eclectic]

Hi guys. Help needed. Again I know this might have been answered before, but I've got a short memory and trawling thru the posts havent yielded the goods. So here goes..

I've got my domain name from f2s...www.paradigmshiftpictures.com. I left f2s for Newnet last year, and it was easy to do all my changes via their control panel. Now I am moving to Be Unlimited and I need help with DNS config...

I have reset my dns entries to f2s dns so I can input A, MX, and CNAME records via f2s members page. I have updated my A record to the static IP address i got from Be. What should my MX record be, and do I really need a CNAME? I intend to host my webserver on my PC, so www.paradigmshiftpictures.com must point to my system. Your help will be highly appreciated...

[aos101]

Your MX record(s) are your mail exchanger records, which you use to specify the email servers which will accept email for your domain. If you don't want to have email on the domain you can just not set these up. Since you are asking about it, I guess you haven't bought an email service from anyone for your domain?

A CNAME record just allows you to point a domain/subdomain at another domain/subdomain, such as pointing www.mydomain.com to mydomain.com (in the DNS sense, not like website forwarding). You don't need a CNAME, but it can be useful to use so you don't have multiple A records.

If you just want your website serving up webpages, create an A record to point paradigmshiftpictures.com at your Be static IP, and create a CNAME record to point www.paradigmshiftpictures.com to paradigmshiftpictures.com.

[the_eclectic]

Settings so far
paradigmshiftpictures.com.........A record......87.xxx.xxx.xxx (static ip frm Be)
www.paradigmshiftpictures.com...A record.....87.xxx.xxx.xxx
xxxxx.paradigmshiftpictures.com...A record.....87.xxx.xxx.xxx
Domain Name Servers for paradigmshiftpictures.com
server0004.freedom2surf.net...............194.106. 56.34
server0001.freedom2surf.net...............194.106. 56.46
On my mailserver (argosoft), i have changed my smtp to Be's smtp's server
I believe my MX record should be a reverse dns entry pointing to my mailserver, which should be my related to my static ip addresss..is that true? If it is, how do i get a reverse dns record?

[the_eclectic]

I have not purchased email services for my domain since i thought hosting it myself should eliminate paying for the service...not sure if i am wrong, but i did not have a problem doing it while i was at NewNet. Just pointed my MX record to a reverse dns entry (i think)

[aos101]

Ah OK yeah that lot should work. Because you didn't mention running a mail server I assumed you wouldn't be. Yes you need to point your MX record at an address that points to your static IP. Do a reverse DNS lookup on your Be static IP here using the reverse DNS lookup tool, and see if Be set a default reverse DNS. As long as you don't get an error from it saying "*ERROR* There is no A record for ..." then you can use it as your MX record.

If Be let you change the reverse DNS for your static IP, you might want to change it to a custom reverse DNS entry such as mail.yourdomain.com (it just looks a bit better in my opinion). For that you would just create an A record to point mail.yourdomain.com to your static IP, and ask Be to change the reverse DNS for your static IP to mail.yourdomain.com. This isn't really necessary though and I think using the default reverse DNS should work OK.

[the_eclectic]

There is a reverse dns record. its something like 87-xxx-xxx-xxx.bethere.co.uk. I believe i should just be able to use this on the f2s dns entry configuration and everything should be okay..am i right?

Sorry didnt read all your reply. I will just use the default reverse dns record for my ip address...thanks

[aos101]

As long as 87-xxx-xxx-xxx.bethere.co.uk points back to your static IP then yes, you can use that for the MX record.

[the_eclectic]

Update: I have created an A record pointing mail.paradigmshiftpictures.com to my IP address, an MX record pointing paradigmshiftpictures.com to mail.paradigmshiftpictures.com, and informed BeUnlimited to create a custom reverse dns entry pointing my IP address to mail.paradigmshiftpictures.com. I hope this configuration is right...