I have: Unmanaged VPS @ Volumedrive.com and bought domains from www.1and1.com. Centos 5.4 with Virtualmin installed. Virtualmin used my server as hostname and did not ask me for a qualified hostname. In this case it was v-xxx.volumedrive.com
What I have done: Set an A record to my server ip for my two domains.
What works: I can access the domain www.mydomain.com I can log into webmail with www.mydomain.com:20000 and send mail.
What doesn't work: I cannot log into webmail.mydomain.com - I have to usewww. mydomain:20000 I cannot receive mails - they bounce.
Question: What do I have to do to get it to work? Is it a nameserver problem?
I'm a total newbie within Linux and server hosting, but willing to learn. I appreciate all the help I can so thank you guys in advance.
Howdy,
So, where is your DNS hosted -- is it on your server, or at a third party?
If it's at a third party, that's no problem, but it does mean that you'd need to setup an 'A' record for the name "webmail.mydomain.com" in order for that address to work.
As far as emails bouncing -- what bounce message do you see in those emails? Are there any related errors in /var/log/maillog?
-Eric
Hi Eric
Thanks for your reply!
I'm not totally sure what you mean by where the DNS is hosted (my knowledge of DNS is still limited) Right now, DNS is done at www.1and1.com where I bought the domains - and made an A-record pointing to my server ip.
I have not touched nameserver and MX records. Their setting is "1and1 nameserver" and "1and1 mailserver".
Regarding the A record point to webmail, does that mean I need to add a subdomain in the controlpanel on 1and1 and make an A record pointing to server ip? Anyway I did that - and waiting to see what happens :)
Regarding /var/log/maillog - there are no errors. Tried rebooting VPS, and it said it started up fine (dovecot). I then sent an email to the webmaster account and waited for 10 minutes now. There are no indications of an error in the log or any sign of the mail in the inbox. Still waiting for the bounce though :)
Do I have to change something in the MX records?
Right now, DNS is done at www.1and1.com where I bought the domains - and made an A-record pointing to my server ip.
Perfect, that answers my question.
Regarding the A record point to webmail, does that mean I need to add a subdomain in the controlpanel on 1and1 and make an A record pointing to server ip? Anyway I did that - and waiting to see what happens :)
For that to work, you wouldn't do anything at all in Virtualmin...
All it means is that, over at 1and1, you'd create a new DNS 'A' record for "webmail.domain.tld", and point it to your server's IP address.
Do I have to change something in the MX records?
Well, if you have any MX records setup at 1and1, you'd want to make sure that they're pointing to your server's IP address.
Also, for good measure -- you may want to browse to intodns.com, and have it generate a DNS report for your domain name that you're having trouble with. It might give you a few ideas as to what's going on :-)
-Eric
Thanks again :)
I've tried setting the MX record but 1and1 reports back: MX 1: The mail exchanger is not sufficient or hasn't been approved. The top level domain (TLD) you entered is not valid.
I've searched for some explanation but can't find any. I don't know if I need to be patient, or there is something I need to do?
Regarding intodns.com I'll try that when my DNS changes have had time to settle :) Thanks.
I have another question - hope you can bare with me :) Isn't Virtualmin/webmin supposed to do the DNS stuff by default? If I want Virtualmin to handle this (my plan is to host several sites) it would look like it would be easier letting Virtualmin handle it right?
What do I need to do? I know I need to set some nameservers and stuff, but how? I've read through the docs, but I must admit I'm still puzzled... Is the nameservers already running now by default in virtualmin? And do I just need to input them into the 1and1 panel?
Regarding nameservers in Virtualmin I find the following in webmin->servers>dns bind->zones>mydomain:
Do I need to change anything here?
I've tried setting the MX record but 1and1 reports back: MX 1: The mail exchanger is not sufficient or hasn't been approved. The top level domain (TLD) you entered is not valid.
Hrm, I'm not sure what the issue there would be... that sounds like an issue with the 1and1 control panel, you may need to ask them why the hostname you're entering isn't being accepted.
I have another question - hope you can bare with me :) Isn't Virtualmin/webmin supposed to do the DNS stuff by default? If I want Virtualmin to handle this (my plan is to host several sites) it would look like it would be easier letting Virtualmin handle it right?
Sure, you have two options for handling DNS -- you can host it at a third party like you're doing, or you can host it yourself. Both have benefits and drawbacks.
To host it yourself -- you need to go to your domain name registrar, and register two IP addresses on your server as nameservers.
So if the primary domain on your server is "example.com" -- you'd go to the domain name registrar you registered "example.com" with, and you'd setup register two nameservers... you can name them anything you want, but a common name is ns1.example.com and ns2.example.com.
Once you've registered two nameservers -- you can then begin setting any of the domains you're hosting to use those nameservers.
That means that you'd be using the DNS from your server, rather than that of 1and1.
-Eric
Thank you Eric your replies have been most helpful!
I didn't notice your reply before now - weird, I've checked several times :-)
Now on to find out how to setup nameservers :)