Evaluating Your DNS Server Needs Page 5

Now that we’ve explained how DNS works, you may be wondering if you need a DNS server of your own. If you’re thinking about getting DNS on your home computer, the answer is an emphatic NO!.

If you’re evaluating a DNS for enterprise use, there are decisions to be made. If you use one computer for Web serving, another for e-mail, and still another for FTP, you do need a DNS server. However, you might not need your own DNS server.

With a new service called UltraDNS, you can simply order a DNS server the way you order ISP service. The UltraDNS databases will store your resource record data for you and become the authorities name server for your domain.

A similar product is DNS2Go from Deerfield.com. DNS2Go provides basically the same service as UltraDNS, but with a dynamic IP address, hence the need of a client.

QuickDNS Pro is basically the same as UltraDNS, but targeted more toward MacOS users.

Dyndns.org offers the same dynamic DNS services that DNS2Go offers with a much wider range of root domain choices; however, it has no standard client. This leads to enterprises coding their own clients and offering them to users, yielding many nonstandard but small Dyndns clients.

If you feel the need to build your own DNS server, the only way to go is to use BIND software and a Unix-based operating system. Of course, you could implement a Windows 2000 server with Active Directory, but the costs would be much higher for nothing more than improved ease-of-use and a GUI.