need DNS Help from A to Z

Name Server setup

[drgto]

I must be thick...I have been reading web pages on DNS setup and O'Reilly's DNS on Windows 2000 yet I can not figure out how to get my DNS Server configured correctly...no body seems to start at the Domain registration as to what the settings there need to be. It feels like the chicken before the egg problem. I'm a visual person and there are not many good examples on this subject.

I have a domain call example.com for example registered yet I don't know what dns to use since I have yet to setup the dns server. I was thinking of using dns1.example.com but again the dns server is not working yet. My registrar allows for me to create a dns server name and point to an IP address but I'm not sure if I should setup this way or not...or just use the domain somehow.

On the DNS Server (Windows 2000 Server) I setup as a Domain Controller since that seemed to be the only way to have the domain dns1.example.com with the full computer name being web1.dns1.example.com

The is just the start of the confusion...Can anyone help? I'm willing to pay$$$ for private tutor...

HELP!
Thanks :)

[edited by: txbakers at 3:19 pm (utc) on May 16, 2005]
[edit reason] no personal emails please, examplified domain [/edit]

[txbakers]

Hi and Welcome to the Webmaster World forums! I'm sure you'll get lots of input into your situation with the DNS.

As a rule of thumb, we don't like to post personal email addresses - tends to turn the knowledge board into a flea market, but we do have a "sticky" mail system which people will use to contact you privately.

As to DNS: I've thought about setting up a DNS server, but that was one step too far for me. I've registered lots of domains, and will find a registrar that lets me modify the DNS/Zone files and leave the DNS parked on their servers. GoDaddy and Verio do this.

One parked on their server I will modify only the ZONE files, which point the domain name to a particular IP address.

Hope that gets you started!

[drgto]

Thanks for the reply...and sorry about posting the email address. I'm just so frustrated because I have been spending too much time trying to resolve this DNS. I was considering your suggestion of letting a registrar handle the DNS/Zone before but the problem I have is that the iMail Server seems to want the domain name it is running on wasn’t sure if it would work. Maybe I’ll just have to do some testing.