NetMAX Newsletter - August 2003

1. [Support] NetMAX Personal Tutor Promotion
2. [Products] Even Lower Magnia Prices???
3. [Technical] NetMAX DNS Tips
4. [General] Let's Hear From You

1. NetMAX Personal Tutor Promotion
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NetMAX already makes setting up and administering your Linux server simple, and our NetMAX Personal Tutor makes it even simpler... so for a limited time, we're giving away NetMAX Personal Tutor with any NetMAX purchase! If you've wanted to try a new NetMAX product, but been concerned that you might need a little talking through to set it up how you want it, this is the deal for you!

NetMAX Personal Tutor is 80 total minutes of video tutorial, divided into specific topics, that will walk you through the ins and outs of the entire NetMAX interface and its many options. Learn how to do things with your NetMAX server that took your Linux guru friends years to learn, and be doing them in hours... or learn how to do just the specific task you need in minutes! NetMAX Personal Tutor is easy to follow, and available for immediate download.

NetMAX Personal Tutor is available for download at a price of $50, or for free with any purchase from the NetMAX Store:

http://www.netmax.com/order/BuyStuff.cgi

2. Even Lower Magnia Prices???
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Last month, we were thrilled when Toshiba slashed the cost of their Magnia SG20 Internet Appliances... because now we could sell them to our customers at half our old prices! This month it got even better: further discounts on bulk hardware orders. Needless to say, we took advantage of them and beefed up our Magnia stock immediately!

So now, our Magnia bundles are even -less- expensive, starting at only $399! We've also expanded our available bundles, so you can get your Magnia with one 20GB or 40GB hard drive, or with a pair of 40GB hard drives standard. You can get the new Magnia Internet Appliance bundles with pre-installed NetMAX versions of Professional Suite, VPN Server Suite, or both starting at $399 in the NetMAX Store::

http://www.netmax.com/order/BuyStuff.cgi

3. NetMAX DNS Tips
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What is DNS?
DNS stands for Domain Name System. It is primarily a method for translating Internet names into IP addresses (name resolution) and for translating IP addresses back into names (reverse resolution.)

DNS is also responsible for many other aspects of Internet functionality, including the routing of email messages.

Why do I need it?
Without a properly configured DNS, network users and applications would be forced to refer to all machines by their IP addresses, which can be difficult to remember, and seldom indicate the function of the machine being communicated with. For example, the name "www.mynetmax.net" is much easier to remember than the IP address "192.168.0.80", and the name suggests that this machine is a webserver.

Without at least name resolution, much of the Internet would not really be usable to most people. Many services would quickly become unwieldy or even impossible.

Like many network functions, DNS is based on a client and server model, which in this case basically means that the client needs an answer to a question (Client:"What is the IP address associated with www.mynetmax.net?") and the server supplies the answer. (Server:"You can find www.mynetmax.net at 192.168.0.80.")

NetMAX can act as either a DNS client or as a DNS client and DNS server. This discussion focuses on configuring NetMAX to act as a DNS client.

How to properly configure DNS resolution in NetMAX.
There are two primary places on a NetMAX system that will influence a NetMAX system's behavior when acting as a DNS client: HOME|Network|DNS and HOME|NETWORK|Domains.

HOME|Network|DNS:
HOME|Network|DNS is used to configure resolution of domains which the NetMAX is not part of. All domains which are not a part of your local network will fall under this category, including most of the Internet.

To properly configure a NetMAX to act as a DNS client, you will need to obtain the IP address of one or more usable nameservers from your bandwidth provider.

1. Access HOME|Network|DNS.
2. Remove the checkbox if present from "Use the InterNIC." Having a checkbox here can SEVERELY slow down DNS resolution, and should almost never happen.
Extremely large bandwidth providers without access to a local nameserver might legitimately check this box, but this is very rare.
3. Enter each nameserver IP address supplied to you by your bandwidth
provider in the Alternate Domain Name Servers list.
4. For the sake of simplicity, ignore the Domain Suffix Search Order list at bottom of the page. If you need to understand this list, click the "?" button in the upper-right to get context-sensitive help.
5. Click the STORE button.
6. Perform a commit.

Your NetMAX has now been configured to query the nameservers specified by your bandwidth provider when trying to resolve any domain not specified under HOME|Network|Domains.

HOME|Network|Domains:
Home|Network|Domains is used to configure domains which your NetMAX
system will be a part of. For instance, if your NetMAX will be named
"www.mynetmax.net" and the IP of the primary nameserver for
"mynetmax.net" is 192.168.0.53, the following steps would be followed.

1. Access HOME|Network|Domains.
2. Click the CREATE button.
3. Specify "mynetmax.net" for Domain Name
4. Specify the primary IP address and netmask for the domain and click
the + symbol. For the sake of example, say IP = 192.168.0.1 and
netmask = 24.
5. Click the networking tab.
6. Since the NetMAX is not hosting the domain itself, ensure that there
is not a check in the "Act as the Primary Name Server for this
Domain"
7. Specify the nameserver's IP address under "Additional Name Servers
for this Domain" and click the + symbol to add this value to the
list. In this example the value is 192.168.0.53.
8. Optionally, you may choose to specify additional options such as the
primary mailserver under the mail tab. If mail destined for an
address within the mynetmax.net domain is not being properly
delivered, you should definitely specify the mailserver here.
9. Click STORE.
10. Perform a commit.

We have now configured the NetMAX server to "ask" the machine at
192.168.0.53 whenever it needs to resolve a name within the
mynetmax.net domain.

In summary, DNS is a mechanism for translating names into IP addresses and for providing information about the configuration of internet
domains. In the scheme of DNS, a machine can act as a DNS client, a DNS server, or both.

4. Let's Hear From You!
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We would very much like to hear from you. Tell us how you use NetMAX
and Linux in your business... or what you would like to see in NetMAX
5... or maybe even what you'd like us to add to the Personal Tutor!
You can contribute your input to the NetMAX Forum:

http://www.netmax.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi

or to our general NetMAX contact form:

http://www.netmax.com/partners/contacts.html

Let us know about your likes, dislikes, and general comments. We are especially interested in the type of additions to NetMAX Server you would like to see as we continue to develop the NetMAX line.

Thank you!