split dns help

[tanoatzim]

Hello, some posts ago I ask how can I install Zimbra to use it as a groupware
suite on a server in a lan that does not have a fqdn and would like to setup
it to exchange mail and calendar appointments between the few pcs of the
lan. I am trying and I have some doubts about the split dns instructions at:

Split DNS - Zimbra :: Wiki

I have installed the bind server, make it run at boot time, and then insert
the following in the /etc/named.conf file:

forwarders { 192.168.1.110; };

inside the options group, as this is the ip address of the router that
act as a dns in the lan.
And add this at the tail of the file:

zone "my.little.shop" {
type master;
file "db.my.little.shop";
}

After this, create a file /var/named/db.my.little.shop as:

@IN SOA my.little.shop. hostmaster.my.little.shop. (
10118 ; Serial
43200 ; Refresh
3600 ; Retry
3600000 ; Expire
2592000 ) ; Minimum

; Define the nameservers and the mail servers
IN NS
IN A
IN MX 10 my.little.shop.

Now, as I have to put the obvious 127.0.0.1 or
the internal address of the lan, i.e. 192.168.1.112 ?

Then, change /etc/resolv.conf and add

nameserver 192.168.1.112

before the router address that was written as

nameserver 192.168.1.110

Even here, it should be simple to insert the loopback address or is not a
good thing? In the lan run dhcp, so I would like to know if I have to use
static ips or I could work with dhcp..
It seems I have a bit of confusion.. :-)

[uxbod]

Hi,

You have not supplied the necessary records for :-

IN NS
IN A

I imagine from your setup they should be

my IN A 192.168.1.112
IN NS 192.168.1.112

otherwise the MX record will not be able to resolve. With respect to resolv.conf it all depends on whether BIND has bound to all available interfaces, but using 192.168.1.112 should be just fine

Hope that is of help.

[tanoatzim]

No, I supply them, asking what should be intendend for *internal address
of the server* (I wrote this inside minor and major, as a tag), if the
internal address of the lan (as you says), or if I could simply arrange with
the localhost address 127.0.0.1 (dhcp cause me trouble). The "my" you
insert before the A record is not listed in the Split DNS Wiki. Why?

[soxfan]

I would recommend using a real, static IP address, instead of the loopback. Sorry, I can't provide any links, or really any reasoning of why the loopback wouldn't work, but it just doesn't seem right to me. I've never seen DNS setup using the loopback.

[uxbod]

Originally Posted by soxfan

I would recommend using a real, static IP address, instead of the loopback. Sorry, I can't provide any links, or really any reasoning of why the loopback wouldn't work, but it just doesn't seem right to me. I've never seen DNS setup using the loopback.

Agreed. A internal IP is just fine as long as DNS is okay.

[tanoatzim]

Tomorrow I will try. This is my first installation of Zimbra and I am testing
it on a ubuntu machine before trying to put it on the server in the lan. The
server is a fedora 8 64 bit machine, and I would like to put it as a virtual
machine or try the redhat version.. Could I achieve good installation or
I have to wait for troubles?

[soxfan]

Tomorrow I will try. This is my first installation of Zimbra and I am testing
it on a ubuntu machine before trying to put it on the server in the lan. The
server is a fedora 8 64 bit machine, and I would like to put it as a virtual
machine or try the redhat version.. Could I achieve good installation or
I have to wait for troubles?

I'm not clear on what you are going to try on your server. I haven't done it myself, but I believe others have been successful running Zimbra on a virtual machine. However, you would want to run a supported OS on your guest machine. As far as running it under Fedora 8, I would not recommend that at all. You really need to choose one of the supported operating systems; for the FOSS version meaning an OS that packages are available for. You are asking for trouble if you try to install a package that is not meant for the OS you are running.

I run Fedora on all my desktops, both at work and home, but just in general I would not recommend it as a server OS. Just too much of a moving target in my opinion. If you want a free, Red Hat based OS have a look at CentOS. I know this kind of contradicts what I said above, but the Red Hat packages will work on the corresponding version of CentOS (ie RHEL 4 packages work on CentOS 4). From the CentOS web site, it "aims to be 100% binary compatibe" with Red Hat.

[tanoatzim]

I will explain you.
Some other build a server with a fedora 8 64 bit machine, and now he
ask me to complete his work while the server running already from a couple
of weeks. I am searching for the less-trouble solution, so I would not want
to compile all zimbra. In my opinion, I have 2 options, try with the redhat
64 bit versions or try with a virtual machine running a ubuntu server, for
example, or some light distro.

[soxfan]

Well, maybe I'm missing something, but if you go the virtual machine route aren't you basically going to be starting from scratch? You will have to install the OS, make sure DNS is working properly, and install Zimbra. If this is the case, why not blow away the Fedora 8 install and start from scratch at the server level with some other OS that is supported?

If you decide your only two options are running under a virtual machine or trying to use Zimbra packages not meant for the OS you are working with I would be all means choose the VM path. You are just asking for trouble trying to force the Red Hat packages to work under Fedora 8.

Just for clarification, you do not have to "compile Zimbra", as you state, if you use a supported OS. Just download the appropriate package, extract it somewhere on the server you want to use with Zimbra, and run the install script.

[tanoatzim]

Ok, let me explain better.
There is a server running Fedora 8 64 bit kernel. People tell me they would
like to have Zimbra on that server. I have this options: 1) trying to install
the redhat version 2) compile from source archive Zimbra by myself or 3)
build a vm with xen, put a lightweit distro on it for which Zimbra packages
exist. I know I have not to compile it if I download binaries, but
I have to compile it only if I want it running natively on Fedora and redhat packages do not work.
However, split-dns talk about search in the resolv.conf setup.
What I do is simply add the internal lan address before of the router that
act as a dns in a nameserver line. Should I add a 'search' line?