.info domain with SBS 2008

[limer]

I'd like to learn more about Microsoft SBS 2008 and know that it offers the option of hosting the domain for you. Does this include unusual TLDs such as .info etc?

 

[Red Squirrel]

I've never used SBS much but I'm guessing it would act as the primary domain controller. You would register it (ex: ns1.yourdomain.com) then point your domain to that IP in your registrar. You would have a record for your .info domain (and any other domains you own) and then setup your A records, aliases and such.

A DNS server does not really care about if a TLD exists or not. On my home network I have a bunch of .loc domains.

 

[RebateMonger]

If you want to host a public web site from your SBS 2008 server, you can point any web site you want at it. SBS 2008 encourages you to name your internal Domain something completely different and that's common practice with most companies' practices. Your public domains and web sites can be whatever you want.

If you are referring to the SBS 2008 Wizard that helps you register a new public Domain name for your company, I know there's a limited number of Domain Registrars involved in this program. So if you use the "Create new Public Domain Wizard" (or whatever it's called in SBS 2008), you may be limited in the TLDs offered.

 

[limer]

Thank you guys. With my limited experience, I realize that SBS 2008 will allow something like "limer.local" as the internal domain and other machines might be [hostname].limer.local -- I planned on registering a cheap .info domain through name.com and then using that when prompted through SBS 2008's Wizard manual set option.

I'd also like to learn more about SBS and other servers in general, although I wonder if this act will throw red flags for a home ISP. I'm not trying to violate any TOS, although I'd really like to learn more and you can only go so far in SBS 2008 without an external domain (RWW, etc). It isn't about hosting the domain so much as learning about what SBS 2008 is capable of.

 

[Emulex]

rent a virtual server and load it up on there. should work fine. 2gb of ram and whatever storage you need.

i strongly suggest picking limer.local and all machines will do their ddns internally to hostname.limer.local since they are non-routable ip's (assuming) then use a stable dns server.

you want the dns server to be multi-homed, and not on the same subnet or near in-case of route-flapping or whatever you don't lose your entire cidr block to a black-hole because someone is having a bad nic at a peering point or gets pissed off at you (or goes out of business).

its extremely wise to register your domain somewhere stable (moniker); host it elsewhere; and host your machines elsewhere. that way you have the ability to move quickly in the event of disaster or technical issue. don't want all your eggs in one basket eh?

 

[limer]

I believe SBS 2008 requires 4 GB ram minimum and from what I've found, VPS hosting isn't cheap at all. Did you have sites in mind?

Beyond that, I'm not sure what you're talking about.

 

[RebateMonger]

I'd also like to learn more about SBS and other servers in general, although I wonder if this act will throw red flags for a home ISP. I'm not trying to violate any TOS, although I'd really like to learn more and you can only go so far in SBS 2008 without an external domain (RWW, etc). It isn't about hosting the domain so much as learning about what SBS 2008 is capable of.

Internet issues with a mail server (like SBS 2008's Exchange Server) will depend on your ISP and the type of account you have. With Home-level Internet accounts, there may be rules or actual blocks of TCP Port 25 inbound or outbound. Sometimes firewall blocks can be worked around using the ISP's smarthost services (if they exist).

There may be inbound blocks on TCP Port 80, also, to prevent hosting public web sites. If the sites are for your own use, you can change ports or use TCP Port 443 or can use IP services like No-IP.com. Some ISPs do allow mail servers or web sites. Some have rules against them but don't enforce the rules unless they are massively violated.

SBS' remote access likely won't be affected by your ISP. I've never heard of any that block TCP 443, TCP 3389, or TCP 4125. SBS' internal features, Exchange itself, SharePoint, the Domain Controller function and the DNS and DHCP functions won't be affected.

 

[limer]

Thanks for all the help guys. I already had SBS 2008 installed an running but hadn't remoted into that box for so long I almost forgot the password (the only one that's missed keepass in a couple years).

It's a low-end SC440, but I'm considering going from 4GB to 8GB of RAM since it's decidely slow. Although the specs list 4 as the max, a few people over at newegg have been successful with certain ram.

 

[RebateMonger]

It's a low-end SC440, but I'm considering going from 4GB to 8GB of RAM since it's decidely slow. Although the specs list 4 as the max, a few people over at newegg have been successful with certain ram.

My SC440 worked fine with 8 GB of Kingston ECC non-buffered memory. Note that the SC440 won't work with non-ECC memory.

 

[limer]

Interesting, the stuff I found was a specific model of Crucial ram. Do you happen to know the model number of the Kingston stuff? Thanks for the heads up, although I was aware the SC440 required ECC. There are rumors that people found ways to force it to take standard DDR2, but I'm not interested in that myself.