This is a step-by-step document for beginners on how to create proper DNS entries and avoid some of the pitfalls commonly encountered by novice users.

Common mistakes:

• No reverse records.
• Wrong or missing MX-Records
• Missing A Records

In this document, I will use the interface from a RaQ4 since the Cobalt RaQ DNS Interface is standardized.

Here are some guidelines to follow:

• CNAMES are evil. Do not use them, ever (You don't want to).
• You need to remember these details: Virtual Site Name, IP Address, the Domain Names that you want to register.
• Only ONE (1) Reverse Address (PTR) record is necessary for each unique IP Address.

It is already assumed that you have registered the domain you want to use and have designated primary and secondary name servers that are hosted on a RaQ - not necessarily the same RaQ that is hosting the site.

More DNS documents can be found here.

Unless otherwise noted, each step is for both RaQ3 and RaQ4 platforms.

Step 1

My example is www.testing.com with the IP address of 192.168.0.100.

I need the following domains to resolve and point to that virtual site:

• www.testing.com
• testing.com

I also want to receive mail on my site as well (emails sent to user@testing.com) - therefore, the domain is testing.com.

Step 2

Next, we move on to the DNS menu via Control Panel. Click on Parameters.

Step 3

Add the necessary Address (A) records.

Shown here...

And here...

Finally...

INTERESTING NOTE:
If I called my site - box.testing.com - and I wanted web hits to testing.com, box.testing.com and www.testing.com to go to the same site, then I would have made Address (A) records (See Step 3) for each of those 3 names.
However, multi-domain hosting is not available on a RaQ 3. On a RaQ 4, you add the additional domain names that you want the virtual site to respond to under Web Server Aliases under the Virtual Site's Site Settings. In this example, I would add testing.com and box.testing.com to the Site Settings of www.testing.com.

Step 4

Now to add the MX entry to allow the domain to receive mail. This is the tricky part since it also has a direct relation to how you created the site in the beginning.

www.testing.com is the name of the Virtual Site I created. Therefore, the users of my site will be located there - the same users that will want to receive email.

The general rule is the Mail Server (MX) record must point to the Address (A) Record of the Virtual Site where you want to receive email.

To add the MX entries...

Enter the correct information...

This next entry allows emails sent to user@www.testing.com to receive them as well...

And the final result is...

Step 5

The last step is to click on "Save Changes to DNS Server"....

This ensures that the DNS entries just made were saved.