Would this be possible? I have a domain and two different host. I want to use my main host and the other host as a backup, just in case my main host goes down if that ever happen. Can I configure my domain name server to be something like:

ns1.mymainhost.com
ns2.mymainhost.com
ns1.mybackuphost.com
ns2.mybackuphost.com

Will that work?

Hi,

I think you can simply update your domain DNS and point to the following as an example:

Primary Name Server: ns1.mymainhost.com
Secondary Name Server: ns1.mybackuphost.com

Generally if ns1.mymainhost.com is down... ns2.mymainhost.com can also be down at the same time if both are on the same box.

Just my thought :D

Regards,
Choon
P.S. I might be wrong though ;)

You should not assume, however, that his host has both nameservers on the same box. In fact, running them that way is quite irresponsible.

Hi kwimberl,

Quite irresponsible? Can you please elaborate more?

To what I know...

Generally if the site is hosted on the same machine where named is running... it doesn't make a difference to me as if the machine is down... my site will be down. If the host willing to give their customers a backup account on another server... then I can understand that having separate name servers on different box.

I should not assume huh... my bad due to my little knowledge :blush:

Thanks.

Kindest regards,
Choon
P.S. Happy 2002 to everyone :D

Let's take us for example. We have two name servers that are listed:

ns.smartwebservice.com
ns2.smartwebservice.com

We have 10 servers. If we had both ns on one box and that server went down, then all of our domains would essentially be "down" since both name servers were on one box. In reality though, even if one ns box goes down, we are ok because we don't have both ns's on one box. We even take this a step further in that we have ns's in different data centers. This means that our sites don't go down everywhere even if an upstream provider poops out on us.

Let's take a smaller one server company though. It is true that if the box is down, then both the ns and the httpd for the domain is down. Let's say for the sake of example, however, that you have a client who has his MX record(s) pointing elsewhere. This means that his mail is sent to someone else's server. If your box goes down with both ns's on it, his mail stops flowing and him getting mail is either delayed or bounced. This is not good for your client. Of course, I used MX as an example, but any DNS record would be the same. Your client could have an internal server that he named "myname.mydomain.com" or something that is listed on your DNS since you are authoritative for his domain. Your box goes down, and his sub is now unreachable.

I hope I have made myself clear and not muddied it up any more for you. :)

Originally posted by kwimberl
I hope I have made myself clear and not muddied it up any more for you. :)

Thanks kwimberl and you don't have to if you don't like :D

Kindest regards,
Choon

P.S. Sorry for the thread starter - my bad :stickout

Originally posted by elusive
Would this be possible? I have a domain and two different host. I want to use my main host and the other host as a backup, just in case my main host goes down if that ever happen. Can I configure my domain name server to be something like:

ns1.mymainhost.com
ns2.mymainhost.com
ns1.mybackuphost.com
ns2.mybackuphost.com

Will that work?

I suppose I should answer the real question now. LOL

choon's answer wasn't all bad. Having a primary at one host and a backup at another is not all bad and there is no need for four of them. However, you should not have a secondary that is not configured as such to the primary. By this I mean that the secondary dns server (at the second host) should get updates from the primary dns server (at the first host). You don't want two dns servers listed with different records. :-)

Originally posted by kwimberl
By this I mean that the secondary dns server (at the second host) should get updates from the primary dns server (at the first host). You don't want two dns servers listed with different records. :-)

Can you elaborate on why? I can think of a reason that wouldn't apply to everyone. Maybe you should mention why this is the best solution for everyone, for the people you're trying to help.

hmmm. So you think it's a good idea to have two DNS servers listed on your domain each with different records?

I think I must have missed something....

Originally posted by kwimberl


I suppose I should answer the real question now. LOL

choon's answer wasn't all bad. Having a primary at one host and a backup at another is not all bad and there is no need for four of them. However, you should not have a secondary that is not configured as such to the primary. By this I mean that the secondary dns server (at the second host) should get updates from the primary dns server (at the first host). You don't want two dns servers listed with different records. :-)

:confused:

Are you saying that second host should get updates from the first host in terms of DNS... I wonder is this practical for the two hosts just for the thread starter :confused:

If that is the case... If you are the second host... would you do that?

Please elaborate more so that I can learn more :D

Many thanks in advance ;)

Kindest regards,
Choon

Hello
Is he not asking about having two copies of his site on two hosts in case one goes down?
That would eb done using round robin DNS but it will only work if the name servers holding the one set of DNS records has some redundancy.

We have our ns1 in the US and our ns2 in the UK with ns3 going into Canada shortly.
DNS redundancy is very important if you have lots of customers in lots of different data centres.
In the past we have had one location go down and kill every site we host.
By moving the name servers apart we completely avoid this issue.

Gordon