Setting up Nameservers Again?

[Curtisebear]

Hi,
I'm a total newbie when it comes to all this, I just got a dedicated server (first time ever managing a server). I was given 5 ips (for example sake I'll say 123.123.123.1 to 123.123.123.5)

When going through the setup for WHM I didn't realize that I had to use two seperate ip addresses and used the same ip address for ns1 and ns2. Now i'm having difficulty trying to undo this - how do I change ns2 to a seperate ip address?


Also is it ok to use the main server ip address as one of the ips used for the nameserver (eg: 123.123.123.1 is main/default ip and I set it for ns1).

Thanks everyone - I tried looking it up in the forum and the cpanel guide but could find this or recognize it. Appreciate your help!

[markb14391]

Hi Curtis,

Let me give you some friendly advice...if this is your first time managing a server, please keep in mind that it can be extremely complex. There are many, many nuances that can get very hard to keep track of. You'll need to know (or learn) a lot as soon as possible, especially regarding security. I'm not trying to scare you away, just to let you know that you shouldn't underestimate the complexity. Forums are your friends. Google too.

As for name server IPs, note that you don't just set those in WHM. They need to be registered with your domain registrar. In other words, those IPs have to be set in an authoritative fashion, or the requests won't even make it to your server. The method for doing this depends on your registrar. I use eNom, where I set up name servers as needed. Then, for each domain hosted on your server, you need to specify the name servers for that domain at the registrar. And, the domain zones on your server need to have all the correct information, for example an A entry for your server, etc., etc. If this is all new to you, I suggest a crash course in it. This is just one example of the many nuances you need to know.

Although IP addresses can be shared among resources, the ideal setup is to have separate IPs for the name servers and the server's main IP.

I hope this info is helpful.

Mark

[Curtisebear]

Thanks for responding,
It's a managed server in terms of security etc, but I have to set up whm and all that by myself without any help from them

I know about dns, a records etc. So when I configure the namservers for mydomain.com in WHM I don't have to specify any ip addresses?

Are the IP Addresses only needed to be entered for my domain in the registrar?

I was given 5 ips, can I arbitrarily choose any two of them to use for the namservers (I've binded all 5 to whm).

Basically what I'm saying is what do I have to do with WHM to set it properly, I understand that I have to set up the domain with my registrar:

ns1.mydomain.com  --> 123.123.123.1
ns2.mydomain.com  --> 123.123.123.2

So in WHM, what do I have to do to get it to work properly once I've set up the domain with two of the ip addresses?

I'm not a stranger to dns settings with domains etc, but this is confusing me. What's the process exactly - I need to specify 2 ips for the domain on the registrar, and then come back to WHM and add the ips or something? I already set it up but I used 1 ip for both namservers during the initial wizard and I can't figure out how to go back and correct it.

[cPanelDavidG]

From a technical standpoint, the software will function without issue with both nameservers on the same IP. While this is not ideal practice, it is supported. However, some registrars do enforce having separate IPs for each nameserver, some (such as some European registrars) go as far as enforcing having IPs on different subnets for each nameserver.

In WHM -> Server Configuration -> Basic cPanel/WHM Setup, if you scroll to the bottom of the screen, next to each nameserver you can click on "Add an A entry for this nameserver." On this screen, you can specify which IP address is assigned to this nameserver.

The step many novice administrators overlook (and I made the same mistake the first time I did this) is that the IPs you assign to the nameservers need to also be configured at your domain registrar. This is how the rest of the internet knows what server to get DNS records from when a domain specifies ns1.example.com and ns2.example.com (where those are your nameservers) as their nameservers.