dns question??

[bruce]

Hi.

Researching dns/naming. (sortof fed!!)

Assume I have a server -rackspace/digitalocean/etc.. And I and I want
to serve the DNS via something like cloudflare.

The test server(s) aren't going to be webservers, they're going to be
used to test apps..

As far as I can tell, most of the sites say you need to already have a
"name" from a domain name provider. That can't be right, can it!! One
can have a dns process internal to an org, providing dns names to
machines all over the place. Granted, those machines/names might be
internal/private.

So, does one need an "actual" real name for an externally facing
server in order to process the DNS so one can do a "ssh test at foo.com"
or can you use something like "ssh test at foo.example.com"

At the same time.. if you do need a real/actual "domain name" for the
externally facing box, digitalocean provides for both public/private
networks for the linux instances. If you run a private network, would
you then be able to create your own name for the internal instances
that would be available to the other instances on the private
network??

I've tried asking IRC/support forums, etc.. but not getting any progress..

Thanks for helping me get my head around this..