Name Servers, DNS, and other small questions..

I'm currently setting up my first server by myself. Everything is basically set up except for handling the domain names. Im going to have 1 IP address with multiple domains attached. There is one server to handle everything. This includes web, email, and DNS.

So I've installed Apache and PHP and MySQL and all that jazz and apache is set up for virtual hosts. I'm having a little trouble understanding virtual domains in qmail, but I think I'll try out vpopmail (can vpopmail handle IMAP?). The most trouble I'm having is with understanding DNS.

Im basically ignorant when it comes to DNS. As far as I can tell, I will have to run a DNS server, like tinydns. I'll have to configure that to allow my domains to my IP and then point my Name Servers through my registrar to myself. Is that right?

Also, how do I handle things like MX records? They also point to the one server.

Also, if there is only one computer, how do I do FQDN? For instance, I was wondering about Apache. What happens when someone doesnt type in http://www.blah.com and instead types http://blah.com... Will they get to me? And how does that work with multiple domains?

Basically, Im interested in knowing how DNS works and also how to perform both email and web with multiple domains and a single IP on a single machine.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

 

Top