[IMail Forum] DNS

[Brad Kingsley]

I think DNS is (should be?) a science rather than an art, but there seems to be a few ways to do things to get the same results.

 

Here is what a "normal" zone might look like after I add it:

 SomeDomain.com.               SOA    ns1.orcsweb.com
 SomeDomain.com.               A      192.168.1.2
 SomeDomain.com.               NS     ns1.orcsweb.com
 SomeDomain.com.               NS     ns2.orcsweb.com
 SomeDomain.com.               MX     10   mail2.orcsweb.com
 SomeDomain.com.               MX     20   backupmx.orcsweb.com
 stage                         A      192.168.1.3
 ftp                           CNAME  SomeDomain.com
 www                           CNAME  SomeDomain.com

So, as you can see, I add an A record with a blank hostname and then some CNAMEs back to the A record. Would it be better to just add a single A record of "*" so that all third-level names (like brad.domain.com) are valid for the domain? So the record would look like:

 

 SomeDomain.com.               SOA    ns1.orcsweb.com
 SomeDomain.com.               NS     ns1.orcsweb.com
 SomeDomain.com.               NS     ns2.orcsweb.com
 SomeDomain.com.               MX     10   mail2.orcsweb.com
 SomeDomain.com.               MX     20   backupmx.orcsweb.com
 *                             A      192.168.1.2
 stage                         A      192.168.1.3

 

 

I'm trying to figure the best (standard?) way to set up zones. I'm sure there are issues like ease of management and rfc compliance. I like the second listing because then the client can use any sub-domain they want without us messing with the DNS.

 

Thoughts?

 

TIA!

 

bk