Adding a new domain to the DNS servers

Charta Web sites can be configured with a "normal" url like "www.yourdomain.com". Currently this is done manually by configuring the nameservers and coupling the url to the website in the Charta Web application.

1. Configure the master name server

Add a new forward lookup zone

Log in to our "windows" server that hosts the name server and start the "DNS" application (Control panel -> Administrative tools -> DNS). Under the quick menu (right mouse menu) on "Forward lookup zones", select "New Zone...". Use the wizard to add:

Option	Value	Example
Zone type	Primary zone
Zone name	Domain without http or www	yourdomain.com
Create a new file with this file name	Use the default	yourdomain.com.dns
Dynamic update	Do not allow dynamic updates

Update the "Start of Authority" (SOA) record

Field	Value	Example
Serial number	date stamp (yyyymmdd) + 2 digit increment value	2008092601
Primary server	ns1.chartasoftware.com.
Refresh interval	4 hours
Retry interval	30 minutes
Expires after	7 days
Minimum (default) TTL	1 hour

Add name servers

Server fully qualified domain name (FQDN)	IP Address
ns1.chartasoftware.com.	195.200.82.40
ns2.chartasoftware.com.	195.200.82.41
ns3.chartasoftware.com.	91.195.118.75

Add Host(A) records (under quick menu on the newly added zone)

Name	Data
	195.200.82.40
www	195.200.82.40
localhost	127.0.0.1

2. Add the domain to the slave name server

Login to our "linux" server that hosts the name server and open "/etc/bind/named.conf.local". Add the following information (based on example "yourdomain.com"):

zone "yourdomain.com" in {
        type slave;
        file "bak.yourdomain.com";
        masters { 195.200.82.40; };
};

Next restart the named service. Example:

root@domain:~ sudo /etc/init.d/bind9 restart

3. Couple the domain to the website

In the website administration add the domain / website coupling. This can be done in the Domains website module. Example:

Name	yourname.com
Website	select the website from the list
StartArticleID	if the domain should enter the website on a different article than the root article, then fill in the article id
Costs	if Charta Software registered and payed for the domain, enter the monthly costs for the domain

Restart the Charta Web service.

4. Check the name server settings

To make sure the domain registration will work it is advisable to test the name server settings. For ".nl" domains this can be done at the authority SIDN: Check .nl nameserver settings

5. Register the domain

Now the name servers are configured, so the domain can be claimed at your domain registrar. Add the following name server records:

ns1.chartasoftware.com
ns2.chartasoftware.com
ns3.chartasoftware.com