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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    69

    dedicated dns servers or no?

    Background:

    Right now I have two vps's, one from wiredtree and one from servint. I have my hosting accounts split between them. my wiredtree vps is ns1 and my servint vps is ns2. I of course have clustering setup for dns.

    I was thinking the other day that maybe I should get a couple more really small vps's to run cpanel DNSonly. I was thinking of picking up a couple of $5 vps's very small as all they will be doing is dns hosting.

    Question:

    Should I stay with how my current setup is and forget the cheapo vps's for dns or would it be better to get two $5 vps's and put dns on them and make them the primary nameservers?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    618
    Having dedicated DNS servers is a great idea, it will also take some load off your VPS's.

    If you are going to get two cheap VPS's I would recommend getting them from a reliable provider. If your DNS servers go down, then so do all websites hosted on your servers.

    DNSCluster.co.uk currently have a special offer, and their parent company Open Source Hosting Solutions have been around for a while, so you could take a look at them: http://www.dnscluster.co.uk/

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    69
    But if I have cheap vps's at two different datacenters and ns1 goes down, doesn't ns2 just pick up the slack?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    2,570
    We've ran a DNS Cluster with cPanel DNS only before. We definitely did not use the higher-end VPSes. We configured our DNS over 4 different low-end VPSes (each with 128 - 256mb RAM) and it did fine. Just make sure the VPSes you get are on different networks, facilities, and providers. It's unlikely that all 4 will go down simultaneously. By going with several cheap VPSes you'll end up saving a lot of money.

    And yes, if one of your VPS goes down the other should pick it up. You should try to have at least 3 or 4 VPSes if you're going for low-end boxes.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    canada
    Posts
    529
    It might be just cheaper and in the end better to go with a 3rd party DNS service provider.
    What did you expect was going to happen?
    6sync is where I've made my home ): // @tenkay

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by dyna! View Post
    It might be just cheaper and in the end better to go with a 3rd party DNS service provider.
    True.

    It might be a toss-up in dollars, but once you factor in management time and complexity, the scales could tip heavily in favour of a specialist approach.

    Why spend hours every month on an ancillary service when there are packaged solutions available?
    edgedirector.com
    managed dns global failover and load balance (gslb)
    exactstate.com
    uptime report for webhostingtalk.com

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Saint Paul, MN
    Posts
    832
    Go for the extra DNS servers. $10/mo is a small price to pay for a fault-tolerant setup you have full control over.

    Just make sure they're as far away from one another as is practical, in terms of geography, et cetera. (We became kind of gunshy about this after the Great Blackout of 2003.)

    DNS servers use minimal resources; it's not implausible you can find another use for the VPSes, as well - backup space, secondary MX, et cetera - if you're having a hard time justifying investing $10/mo in, you know, something that's only the most critical and under-rated internet service.
    redpin.com - offering amazingly competent email, dns, and web hosting since 2002... because someone has to!
    Because Simple Things Should Be Simple - YouCANHasDNS

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Ireland
    Posts
    412
    There are also free dns providers like afraid.org that can host your secondary(trietary and so on) dns
    European Xen based VPS Hosting
    Linux VPS Hosting | 1Gb Uplink
    Wide range of distribution and turn-key applications available.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by bigdessert View Post
    Background:

    Right now I have two vps's, one from wiredtree and one from servint. I have my hosting accounts split between them. my wiredtree vps is ns1 and my servint vps is ns2. I of course have clustering setup for dns.

    I was thinking the other day that maybe I should get a couple more really small vps's to run cpanel DNSonly. I was thinking of picking up a couple of $5 vps's very small as all they will be doing is dns hosting.

    Question:

    Should I stay with how my current setup is and forget the cheapo vps's for dns or would it be better to get two $5 vps's and put dns on them and make them the primary nameservers?
    It can get messy when using your hosting servers as part of the DNS cluster setup. Best practice is to really have your DNS cluster hosted on external servers. Will help in many ways including reducing server loads, and if you intend on growing your business and hope to one day have multiple servers, it's worth getting it all setup now.
    OSHS Ltd
    OSHS Services - DNS Clusters | R1Soft Licenses | R1Soft CDP Storage | UK Server Colo | UK Rack Space

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