DNS zone configuring; complete newbie

[toonarific]

Ok, I want to be able to make urls for my site like

forums.toonarific.com, activities.toonarific.com

My server is using Windows 2000 Server and IIS. How do I create zones and so forth to be able to make urls like the abovementioned? Thanx in advance.

[richlowe]

You need to do three things.

1) Set up a host header for each one. This is done in "internet information services" applet in the properties for the web site under http headers. If your subdomain is blah.yzyz.com then put that as the host header. IIS matches the host header to the A record defined in DNS.

2) define the DNS entry in the dns applet. You will need to define an A record, an NS (nameserver) record and a couple of other things at a minimum. If you have two subdomains for yzyz.com, then you would define BOTH under the same zone as A records.

3) Make sure the IP addresses in your DNS records are the addresses of your web sites.

4) Make sure the registrar host definition is set up properly. In other words, if you have a name server, you must define it. Usually this is done by logging into your registrar screen and adding a nameserver.

You can use a nifty site called dnsreport.com and another called dnsstuff.com to check it all out for errors.

If this seems complicated, it's because it is. It all works - I've defined two name servers running windows 2000 DNS, a web server running IIS 5 and set up the registrar records appropriately and it's been good for years now.

Good luck and have fun.
Richard

[toonarific]

Definitely a good start. Ok, I right-clicked the properties of my website, and added 2 HTTP headers which now appear in the dialog as

forums: forums.toonarific.com
activities: activities.toonarific.com

I then expanded the DNS applet, and this is what I see

DNS
--TOON
----Forward Lookup Zones
---- .
------ arpa (with files)
------ com (with files)
---- home.toonarific.com
----Reverse Lookup Zones

Which folder do I create the A and NS records in? I right-clicked in several levels, and none of the options in the menu gave either option.

I told you I was new at this ;)

[richlowe]

I think its called a HOST record. Add it under the domain name.

[richlowe]

Note that if you want the subdomains to forward to folders (which is usually what you want) you must put them on the folders, not on the web site. What it basically says is "this host header applies to this object". It's also under "Web Site" not Host headers as you would think. I believe you need to create a virtual web site for each different one you want. So for your two domains, you would create two virtual web sites, one for each folder, then associate a host header with each of those. Could be wrong, but that's my understanding.

[toonarific]

Im guessing the home.toonarific.com directory under Forward Lookup Zones is connected to the website. When I try to create a new Host, it doesnt give me the option to point it to a folder on the server. It just keeps asking for IP addresses or server names.

[richlowe]

Technet (microsoft.com/technet) has many great articles on how to accomplish what you want. It's an awesome resource and it's free. Richard Lowe

[richlowe]

Also check this article:

[iisanswers.com...]