I have several questions about setting up a linode as a name server.

I want my linode to serve domain names for a site hosted on another, not-linode box. I prefer to configure everything from its command line, rather than use the linode tools, and I'm sure my setup is suboptimal. Right now I'm just trying to learn.

Question 1: I'm using "DNS and Bind", but can anyone point me to resources specific to doing this from a linode?

I'm particularly confused about designating name servers. The domain is registered with GoDaddy. In my primary zone file I've designated name servers nameserver1.example.net and nameserver2.example.net, and given these my linode's IP addresses. I've commented out the default linode nameservers in /etc/resolv.conf. But I don't quite get how to tell GoDaddy that nameserver1 should be a nameserver for example.net -- when I enter that domain name in its nameserver designation tool, it (not unreasonably) says that name server hasn't been registered.
I've tried to designate my linode's IP address.

Inspection of syslog doesn't show any errors, so I think my configuration and zone files are okay. So,

Question 2: How do I tell the internet, and in particular GoDaddy, that the linode is the nameserver for example.net?

Thanks in advance.

AFAIK, you need to "register" your nameservers with the appropriate authorities before you can point your domains at it. You can't just create a subdomain, install Bind, and use it as a nameserver. The people who run the Internet want something a little more authoritative.

This is probably something you need to do on GoDaddy's side, and I know that some domain registrars (e.g. eNom/Namecheap) have a link in the user interface for doing exactly that, but I'm not familiar with GoDaddy's interface. Once your nameservers are properly registered, then you will be permitted to point your domains at them.

http://help.godaddy.com/topic/163/article/668
This might be help

Indeed. Thanks very much.

I've tried to "register" the domain names for my namerservers, ie, nameserver1.example.net and nameserver2.example.net, rather than the domain itself (ie, not example.net). Is that right?

It should be.

My opinion is to use linode's dns servers.

1) Its easy
2) You dont waste your resources.

Uhh... no, "registering" a nameserver is different from "registering" a domain. You already own the domain, right?

Yes, I do own the domain. I won't ask any further questions just yet, I'm trying to figure this out.

I'm sure you are right, but I do want to understand the nuts and bolts of this for myself, first. Thanks.

Why would you do that? Breaking your node's recursive DNS setup does not make it easier to set up an authoritative DNS server. They're not related.

I've tried to simplify the problem by making the linode the host for the website, as well as the nameserver. I've also un-commented the default name servers. I've also given the linode the hostname 'workshop' and referred to this name in the zone files.

BIND continues to start without errors, but now when I use nslookup I get "Got SERVFAIL" from the linode nameservers. The request times out before reaching any other servers. I've designated the linode as a name server in resolv.conf, at address 127.0.0.1.

What am I doing wrong here?

What's the FQDN in question? That will help a lot with troubleshooting.

Well, hostname -f reports "hostname: unknown host", as does dnsdomainname. So I have clearly banged up my domain name somehow.

hostname reports "workshop.example.net".

I've edited /etc/hosts to specify
"72.14.xx.xxx workshop.example.net workshop"
and added
"domain example.net"
to /etc/resolv.conf.

I've also revised my zone files to specify a host 'workshop.example.net.' at the linode IP address, and named this host as the nameserver.

I've tried adding "nameserver 0.0.0.0" to resolv.conf, but this doesn't help.

resolv.conf and /etc/hosts just change what your system sees when it tries to resolve something; they don't change anything from the outside world.

It sounds like you might not understand how DNS works, and since you're unwilling to give us enough information to troubleshoot, more specific advice is going to be difficult. Try grabbing a copy of DNS & BIND; this will give you much of the information you need to deploy a DNS infrastructure the right way.

I appreciate your time, but I don't think you've read my posts. I've noted at the top that I'm working from "DNS and BIND", and I gave you the output of "hostname -f" in response to your question about my FQDN -- as I understand it, that command is what reports the FQDN.

Thanks for your interest anyway.

Just throwing this comment out there: I transferred 3 domains from GoDaddy to NameCheap for this exact reason. I couldn't figure out a way to "use" my own Linode name server.

I'm not saying that it's impossible to do with GoDaddy but they're web site/control panel is unbelieveably and unnecessarily complicated it may have gotten past me. Once my domains were transfered I clicked 1 link and registered ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com to my 2 Linode IP addresses-- it's that simple at NameCheap....