Help needed setting up DNS on windows 2003 servers

[robinbrampton]

Hi Everyone,

Here's my situation.

I'm creating an asp.net web application that will have a corporate website, as well as 50 individual state websites that will be hosted as 50 seperate subdomains, on 50 seperate dedicated servers.

Each one of the 50 subdomains will be a stand alone application that needs to send out and receive e-mail using its own smtp server. The corporate site basically acts as the launch point where potential new members review the service we're offering, and once they decide to become members, they will be redirected to the state website where they reside. (example: florida.mydomain.com)

Now, I already setup the DNS records including the NS, SOA and MX records for the corporate server which hosts mydomain.com and everything is working fine, now I need to setup the DNS for the subdomains, starting with florida.mydomain.com, but I'm not completely sure how to do it.

I do understand that I need to create (A) records for each of the subdomains on my corporate server, so I can point to them...

But I'm not sure what needs to be done to setup the DNS settings on each of the subdomains to ensure each one of the subdomains will function as a stand alone application, which can send out and receive email. (Example: admin@florida.mydomain.com)

Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction, or provide me with step by step instructions.

P.S. All subdomains will be hosted on Windows servers, so I will be using the DNS manager in Windows 2003 to setup up the records.

Thanks,

Robert

 

[WhoKilledKenny]

This is a SWAG so bear with me... Normally I would use an Enterprise email system (Exchange), but since your requirment is different I take a stab at it.

But I'm not sure what needs to be done to setup the DNS settings on each of the subdomains to ensure each one of the subdomains will function as a stand alone application, which can send out and receive email. (Example: admin@florida.mydomain.com)

I don't think DNS is the issue...
Sounds like you require the SMTP service in IIS to be running on each web-site. You can then configure the domainname in the SMTP properties and add the ASP code for Admin@... This works for outgoing mail. But, incomming would be messy as you would need 50 mx records on a Public DNS server (this is why I would use Exchange). If you are not receiving incoming mail, the this would not be an issue.

 

[robinbrampton]

Thanks for the reply WhoKilledKenny,

I guess i'll have to look a little deeper to find out if 50 MX records would cause a problem, because using an exchange server is not an option.

If anyone else has some insights, or an opinion to offer? It would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Robert

 

[WhoKilledKenny]

Just to calrify, you only need the MX records to receive mail. MX records are not required to send mail from each website (IIS Server running SMTP).

 

[robinbrampton]

Hi WhoKilledKenny,

Then I believe I would need a PTR record for each subdomain to ensure that email will be delivered and not blocked by the ISP's, is that right?...

And if thats the case, what would I use for the PTR record. Is it the details for my main domain, because there won't be any name server records for the subdomains?

Thanks,

Robert

 

[WhoKilledKenny]

That is my understanding as well. The PRT record would come into play should the maildomain you are sending to does a reverse lookup to verify your domain record.

There are a lot of possible issues that can occur with the solution you are investigating.

This is why I use an Enterpise wide email system and configure it to allow Applications and IIS(SMTP) to relay outgoing mail.