[wplug] Settings for 2 servers and email

[Larry Daberko]

Kevin Squire wrote:
> I want to make sure I have this right in my head before I finish setting
> the DNS/MX records and I tell the bosses that all is ready.... so I was
> hoping to pass this through some of your brains :-)
>
>   
I had to wrap my head around this too...
> We are finally hosting our own servers, 1 for request-tracker (a bug
> tracking system), and 1 for student email.  Internally, the computer
> names are Merlin (for RT) and Phoenix (for email).
>
> Right now, we already have the DNS set for http://rt.mypavcs.org/ to
> point to IP address 65.105.38.217 .  Merlin is up and running, and
> behaving nicely.  
>
>   
Behaving nicely is good.  We don't need to worry about this then.
> Also right now, http://mypavcs.org/ or http://www.mypavcs.org/ points to
> IP address 82.165.206.194 (a 1&1 hosted service) that redirect to a
> particular page on our main website for some promotion we are running. 
> After the promotion is done, These will point to 65.105.38.216 -
> Phoenix.  http://www.mypavcs.org/ will really just be a 1 page "portal"
> page to send fokes the right direction.
>
>   
If I read this correctly, you want to be using Phoenix as a main website 
in addition to email?
> I have also set http://mail.mypavcs.org to point to 65.105.38.216
> (although at the time of writing this, I am still waiting for the Cisco
> guy to get to our firewall for this).  This is to set up a WebMail
> interface for the students (SquirrelMail).
>
>   
There may be security issues with running SquirrelMail on the same 
server as your mail server.  But it's doable.
> All this is good, and I (am pretty sure I) have a handle on this stuff.
>
> Here is what I want:
>   http://mypavcs.org AND
>   http://www.mypavcs.org  --> phoenix's portal page
>   http://rt.mypavcs.org   --> merlin's RT interface (working fine)
>   http://mail.mypavcs.org --> phoenix's SquirrelMail interface
>
>   USER at mypavcs.org        --> phoenix
>   USER at mail.mypavcs.org   --> should die/be dropped (I think)
>   USER at rt.mypavcs.org     --> should die/be dropped (I think)
>
>   
Serving mail.mypavcs.org and www.mypavcs.org will require virtual 
hosting setup on apache on Phoenix.  I assume you know that.
> SO if I understand everything correctly, here is what I have/want...
>   Domain name 	mypavcs.org
>   IP address 
>     (A record)  	65.105.38.216
>   Name server 1 	ns58.1and1.com
>   Name server 2 	ns57.1and1.com
>   Mail server 1 	mail.mypavcs.org, 1
>   
>   Domain name 	mail.mypavcs.org
>   IP address 
>      (A record) 	65.105.38.216
>   Name server 1 	ns58.1and1.com
>   Name server 2 	ns57.1and1.com
>   Mail server 1 	???
>   Mail server 2 	???
>   
>   Domain name 	rt.mypavcs.org
>   IP address 
>      (A record) 	65.105.38.217
>   Name server 1 	ns58.1and1.com
>   Name server 2 	ns57.1and1.com
>   Mail server 1 	???
>   Mail server 2 	???
>
>
> Should I do anything with the mail and rt .mypavcs.org MX record?  Do I
> have the whole CNAME/A Record stuff set right?  
>
>   
There's only one mail server entry for the entire mypavcs.org domain, 
not for every server entry.

Instead of explaining point by point, I'll just summarize what I think 
the DNS should be.

mypavcs.org.   IN   NS   ns58.landl.com.
mypavcs.org.   IN   NS   ns57.landl.com.

mypavcs.org.   IN   MX   10   phoenix.mypavcs.org.
phoenix.mypavcs.org.   IN   A 65.105.38.216
merlin.mypavcs.org.   IN   A   65.15.38.217
mail.mypavcs.org.   IN    CNAME phoenix.mypavcs.org.
rt.mypavcs.org.   IN   CNAME   merlin.mypavcs.org.

OR you can use IP addresses for mail and rt if you want to hide the 
actual server names.  I like CNAMEs personally so there's only one thing 
to change if something gets moved.

> Thanks for your time and assistance.
>  -Kevin
>
>   
The security issues and complexity raised by running SquirrelMail, 
Apache virtual hosting, and mail on one server makes me cringe.  From 
experience, I would highly recommend perhaps separating them onto 
different servers.  They don't have to be beefy for SquirrelMail and a 
one page portal.  Most likely you'll have junk PCs around that can 
handle them.


LBD