DNS basics

Jeana Hollingsworth

In very simple terms, DNS providers are a bit like the phone book in your cell phone.  You don't know your friends' phone numbers but your phone does.  You don't know the IP address of every website on the planet, but DNS providers do.  Just like your phone, when you type in that name, it directs you to the correct number without you having to ever know it.

To see this in action, go to http://74.125.95.147/ in your browser.  You should be directed to Google.  If you had gone straight to http://www.google.com/, Google's DNS provider would have automatically pointed you to IP address 74.125.95.147 (or one of the dozens of IPs Google is hosting it's service from).

Setting up DNS for your Convio hosted website is usually as easy as:

1. Contract with a DNS provider (if you don't already have a contract with one).
2. Contact Convio and acquire the necassary DNS information from us.  You do not have to understand this information.
3. Contact your DNS provider and give them the information we provided you.

In rare scenarios, you may work with a DNS provider where you are responsible for setting up your own DNS.  Some such providers provide you with a simple interface that allows you to take the information we sent you from step 2 above and just plug it into some fields.  If their interface is not as simple, your file should look something like this:

;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 60961

;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 5, ADDITIONAL: 5



;; QUESTION SECTION:

;www.yoururl.org.            IN      A



;; ANSWER SECTION:

www.yoururl.org.     900     IN      CNAME   shortname-live.convio.net.

shortname-live.convio.net.   1800    IN      A       69.48.252.146



;; AUTHORITY SECTION:

convio.net.             43992   IN      NS      your.dns.provider.

convio.net.             43992   IN      NS      your.dns.provider.

convio.net.             43992   IN      NS      your.dns.provider.

convio.net.             43992   IN      NS      your.dns.provider.

convio.net.             43992   IN      NS      your.dns.provider.

Notes about that file

• The lines below will be provided by us:
  • www.yoururl.org.     900     IN      CNAME   shortname-live.convio.net.
  • shortname-live.convio.net.   1800    IN      A       69.48.252.146
• The "yoururl.org" and "www.yoururl.org" are your URL
• The "your.dns.provider" is one of your DNS provider's servers.  They may not look familiar
• Any line that starts with two semicolons, ";;", can be ignored.
• These files are extreme literal.  Any missing period, any incorrectly spaced item, any incorrect number will make the file not work.