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Pointing MX subdomains somewhere

Author: D.Hurley (2 May 05 8:56am)

I have donated several virgin subdomains to the project and am wondering if it is OK for me to redirect those subdomains to the Project Honey Pot home page. Currently, if I enter these domains in a browser, they show an empty directory. I'm not a security professional and don't know if this exposes the server to any vulnerabilities or exploits, but I'd feel better if I could point them somewhere--perhaps just pointing to my regular domains would be best?

Thanks for this project--from everything I have been able to read, this looks like a real winner and I am very proud to be able to participate. I own a fair number of domains and have an excellent hosting provider and can set up a large number of subdomains (and my own needs are met), so I may even add more as we go forward.

Re: Pointing MX subdomains somewhere

Author: K.Kirkpatrick (2 May 05 11:01am)

Your thinking of your missing A records as if they are loose ends... they aren't

It no different than having an unlisted phone number.

You still have the phone, and the phone is still reachable, but the phone number isn't published.

An A record is just a published reference that makes it easier to look your up.
Not having one doesn't do anything.
You need not even have a domain to run a server... Just because you don't name your house, doesn't make the house disappear off the street.

A domain is just a convenience, and an A record is just a way to publish the relationship between your Domain and your IP addy.

Not having an A record for a subdomain is common.
Don't be concerned about it causing an exploit problem... not listing it, just makes it that much more secure. It will not interfer with your Domain name, or the listings for your Domain.

I didn't name my back bedroom, but that doesn't keep it hidden from me... strangers however don't really need to know I have a back bedroom... so, I don't publish a map to it.

Re: Pointing MX subdomains somewhere

Author: D.Hurley (2 May 05 11:27am)

But I just logged into your back bedroom and I can see that you're hiding your stash of old computer magazines there! hehehe

Thanks for the info. It just seems that since I can access the directory form the web, it was somehow "out there," but I'm guessing that I'm essentially the only one who knows of it?

Re: Pointing MX subdomains somewhere

Author: K.Kirkpatrick (2 May 05 1:08pm)

Not having an A record doesn't make your server vulnerable, but neither does it secure it.

If you have an unlisted phone number... you can still get phone calls from a random number phone dialer. Just make sure your server is properly set up, and if you want to make sure people don't browse to your empty subdomain out of curiousity, make a rule for htaccess that redirects the inquiry to your Domain index page.

yup.... big old pile of Byte and Computer Shopper, but while you can see them... They are actually not in the back bedroom, but in the front of the house with the rest of the junk .See, all the windows in the place actually look into the same view, no matter what room they appear to be attached to.

; )

Re: Pointing MX subdomains somewhere

Author: D.Hurley (2 May 05 1:35pm)

"See, all the windows in the place actually look into the same view, no matter what room they appear to be attached to."

I guess that might have something to do with that welcome mat I was standing on when I looked in. It said ".htaccess"

Thanks for your excellent analogies and information!

Re: Pointing MX subdomains somewhere

Author: C.Kruslicky (23 Jul 05 4:15pm)

I'm not sure how you're getting a directory listing if there's no IP associated with the subdomain though? What I usually do is only allow access to the hostnames I've configured, and any connections to the webserver IP address itself are denied. Don't know if that's what you're looking to do or not, but if nothing else, it gives an access denied to anyone or any worm scanning the IP address without knowing a valid hostname.

Re: Pointing MX subdomains somewhere

Author: R.Manders (9 Aug 05 5:52pm)

To put your mind at ease, simply place an empty file, called index.htm (or possibly index.html, default.htm or default.html depending on the servers configuration) in the root fo your webspace. This will return an empty screen to anyone browsing to the domain address - http://luv2be.knifed.org has this, as an example.

Re: Pointing MX subdomains somewhere

Author: R.Lingley (16 Oct 05 5:05am)

If your site uses C-PanelX in the admin section, you can set up the "redirects" to pretty much any address on the internet.

Post Edited (16 Oct 05 4:07am)

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