My domains are registered with namebargain.com. I use their 5 DNS servers. 3 times in the past year, all 5 of their NS's go out of commision for whatever reason (Today they claim DoS attack on their DNS servers).

Now I've been reading about backup DNS, but it just isn't clicking. If I get a backup, how does the client know "hey namebargain DNS is down, go over to freeDNS (or whatever)".

Also... How do I set it up in both NameServers? ie.

DNS1: ns1.namebargaindns.com
DNS2: ns1.freedns.com
DNS3: ns2.namebargaindns.com
DNS4: ns2.freedns.com

etc...?

Do clients check the first and if it fails how do they know about the second? or is it hit/miss - 50% of requests go to freedns, other 50% go to namebargaindns, so 50% fail to resolve?

Thanks for spelling this out to me!

seems like your registrar is a reseller of eNom.

You must make sure that both DNS provider are able to transfer the zone because both zone file must have the same SOA number.

If you search about EveryDNS, you will hear good reviews about them.

For DNS, it is round-robin, which means that it will randomly select the DNS and if it does not resolve, it will hop on to another random DNS

I'll be doing the exact same thing Addict :) . I use Namecheap who are also use enom servers, and likewise I am getting more than a bit sick and tired of the downtime. I'll be looking to use EveryDNS as my secondary DNS provider if I can figure out how to set this up in the Namecheap admin panel. At present it seems to be you use namecheap/enom or another provider. Doesn't seem to be any function for using one or more providers...

Right now I have set up an account with editDNS.net. I have entered my domain, and IP address, and clicked "Make this the Backup/Slave DNS". It says:

Your domain is currently acting as a slave domain. It pulls all information from your master nameserver. (dns01.gpn.register.com)
[ Change NS ]

You are unable to make any changes to your domain while it's configured to be a slave domain.

Does this mean the master www dns will also get this record along with namebargains dns records?

I could only find that namebargain allows you to use their DNS or your own, if I use my own, doesn't that defeat the purpose of the backup with editDNS?

tanfwc: I don't see anything about being able to transfer the zone... it locks me out of all dns activities if I choose to use their (namebargains) DNS.

Addict, if this is the case, that's means your registrar does not allow zone transfer.

If you want, this is what come to my mind at this time(not tested yet).

Setup primary DNS at EveryDNS and slave DNS at editDNS.net. This will work since EveryDNS allow zone transfer :)

Ok. I signed up for EveryDNS, and logged in, but it is having problems entering a domain with them - just get a blank white screen. I tried earlier too - got the same thing.

I'll keep trying...

Here is the guide. But they use editdns as primary and every dns as secondary.

http://hostingfu.com/article/redundant-and-free-domain-name-service-editdns-everydns

maxbear - that is EXACTLY what I needed - Thank you sooo much!

I am using everydns only. I better to follow this guide and setup a 2nd DNS server in case of dns server down.

I did donate some money to both editdns and everydns. I think it's really worth for it. For a little price per year, you can have unlimited domains dns hosting and reliable services.

Thx! I'll try it on one of my domains and see how it goes.