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  1. #1

    Running your own DNS Server - advantages?

    Out of curiosity how many of you are running your own dns service for clients?

    Are there any advantages or disadvantages to this?

    Is it hard to setup?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Orlando, FL
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    1,063
    I do. It's pretty easy if you use the DNS through cPanel. I have also setup dedicated DNS boxes uses bind. If you know how DNS works, the process is pretty painless. It's great when I need to create new zone files on the fly and such.

    We also utilize some private DNS zones for monitoring and access to things within our private network between data centers.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    UK/USA/Switzerland
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    25
    Advantages:

    -You can set your own TTL values and other parameters
    -You can easily make changes to the name servers and flush/force updates (no waiting for someone else's system to update)
    -If you have enough domains, the costs could be lower than paying a service provider for hosted DNS
    -Can add value to existing services, especially if your offer a premium/managed service
    -You learn a lot more than simply using someone else's web interface

    Disadvantages:
    -Additional admin work (keep up to date with latest vulnerabilities, make sure servers run smoothly and available)
    -You become HIGHLY unpopular if they break as usually many clients are affected (i.e. entire business offline)
    -Need to watch out for DDoS and other nasties that can cause outages too..
    -Possibly additional costs if you do it properly, ideally host in different locations/countries/continents, on sufficient bandwidth and server resources and if you can, on different AS numbers.

    My opinion: (as someone who runs an anycast DNS platform)
    I would say, unless you know DNS very well, can troubleshoot complex issues, have a lot of monitoring in place and you configure your name servers properly (there are many misconfigured examples out on the Internet) it may be best to use a service provider who can take care of this for you.

    Hope that helps..

    Regards,
    Andy Ashley.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    451
    I would look at what the previous poster said.

    For a small group of servers, DNS is still a big pain to learn correctly, and securely.

    For a larger group, especially networked and all that, DNS (securely done) has a pretty high learning curve.

    That being said.....

    Your own networks are going to need their own dns locally anyway, right?

    I say go third party until you can spend the time and money to learn, if it is a business you are running. If your own stuff, I would do it locally.


    Take heed to those who mention 'take great care' because you can screw it up pretty easily...

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Orlando, FL
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    Quote Originally Posted by qube_ms View Post
    Advantages:

    -You can set your own TTL values and other parameters
    -You can easily make changes to the name servers and flush/force updates (no waiting for someone else's system to update)
    -If you have enough domains, the costs could be lower than paying a service provider for hosted DNS
    -Can add value to existing services, especially if your offer a premium/managed service
    -You learn a lot more than simply using someone else's web interface

    Disadvantages:
    -Additional admin work (keep up to date with latest vulnerabilities, make sure servers run smoothly and available)
    -You become HIGHLY unpopular if they break as usually many clients are affected (i.e. entire business offline)
    -Need to watch out for DDoS and other nasties that can cause outages too..
    -Possibly additional costs if you do it properly, ideally host in different locations/countries/continents, on sufficient bandwidth and server resources and if you can, on different AS numbers.

    My opinion: (as someone who runs an anycast DNS platform)
    I would say, unless you know DNS very well, can troubleshoot complex issues, have a lot of monitoring in place and you configure your name servers properly (there are many misconfigured examples out on the Internet) it may be best to use a service provider who can take care of this for you.

    Hope that helps..

    Regards,
    Andy Ashley.
    Good advice, basically what I was trying to say, he said it better.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Posts
    489
    Are there any advantages or disadvantages to this?
    Many advantages. You can easily manage the dns if you have any control panel (plesk,cpanel etc) integrated. And it really helps if you plan to resell accounts.

    Is it hard to setup?
    Its easy especially when you have a control panel.

  7. #7
    Bind can be quite complex to configure manually so definitely go for one of the control panels. It does give you a lot more flexibility if you run it yourself though.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
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    Orlando, FL
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stratogen View Post
    Bind can be quite complex to configure manually so definitely go for one of the control panels. It does give you a lot more flexibility if you run it yourself though.
    I agree. cPanel has a good interface and it pretty much configures itself. cPanel also has a "dns only" version that is free. It will snyc up all your zones and operates as a DNS cluster. I run on VPSes in different data centers to provide some DNS flexibility.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
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    3,816
    Quote Originally Posted by Stratogen View Post
    Bind can be quite complex to configure manually so definitely go for one of the control panels. It does give you a lot more flexibility if you run it yourself though.
    PowerDNS

  10. #10
    adding to the list of disadvantages:

    1. clients come to you for dns support
    2. most hosts are in a single location
    3. you may be doing something in which you are not a true expert
    edgedirector.com
    managed dns global failover and load balance (gslb)
    exactstate.com
    uptime report for webhostingtalk.com

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    354
    it's like pulling out your own teeth. you can do it, but you're better off going to the dentist.

  12. #12
    So my next question

    Once you configure bind on your system and theoretically have the DNS service running how do you point your domain to your IP

    Say I registed my domain with godaddy - what are the next steps once I have bind up and running on my box?

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Dallas and Houston, Texas
    Posts
    21
    You'll have to log into your domain management account at your registrar and "register" your DNS servers. Once the server is registered successfully then you can point domains to those servers for resolution.



    Quote Originally Posted by abridgel View Post
    So my next question

    Once you configure bind on your system and theoretically have the DNS service running how do you point your domain to your IP

    Say I registed my domain with godaddy - what are the next steps once I have bind up and running on my box?
    David Herr
    COO
    http://www.opus-3.com

  14. #14
    Is it necessary to have two DNS services running on your box?

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    North Carolina
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    Quote Originally Posted by abridgel View Post
    Is it necessary to have two DNS services running on your box?
    No, but you should have multiple dns servers in different datacenters.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Dallas and Houston, Texas
    Posts
    21
    two DNS services? You should only have one instance of the service running on the box. Best practices is to have at least two DNS servers running, preferably on separate networks. If you only have one server you may want to look at subscribing to one of the commercial DNS services to run as a slave to your server to ensure DNS records are reachable.
    David Herr
    COO
    http://www.opus-3.com

  17. #17
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Indonesia
    Posts
    217
    i have six dns server major advantages is your record keep available and spread over the world with diffrent data center. Client get fast respond also. cmiiw

  18. #18
    Any good free secondary dns servers/services anyone can recommend?

  19. #19
    Join Date
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    Location
    North Carolina
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    Quote Originally Posted by abridgel View Post
    Any good free secondary dns servers/services anyone can recommend?
    http://freedns.afraid.org is what I use.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Dallas and Houston, Texas
    Posts
    21
    I'd really advise against using a free service, DNS is pretty critical to your sites staying up and reachable. The paid services are really pretty affordable, DNSmadeeasy starts at $30/year.
    David Herr
    COO
    http://www.opus-3.com

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Reston, VA
    Posts
    3,131
    Quote Originally Posted by davidherr View Post
    I'd really advise against using a free service, DNS is pretty critical to your sites staying up and reachable. The paid services are really pretty affordable, DNSmadeeasy starts at $30/year.
    +1 for DNS Made Easy. Great group of people over there.
    Yellow Fiber Networks
    http://www.yellowfiber.net : Managed Solutions - Colocation - Network Services IPv4/IPv6
    Ashburn/Denver/NYC/Dallas/Chicago Markets Served zak@yellowfiber.net

  22. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Spudstr View Post
    +1 for DNS Made Easy. Great group of people over there.
    Fully agree. Dnsmadeeasy has been great

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    517
    Quote Originally Posted by funkywizard View Post
    Fully agree. Dnsmadeeasy has been great
    My experience with them was not good. They may run a great service, but they treat their customers badly - at least, that was my experience.

    Once, I had problems and they were really late responding. When I expressed my disappointment, they refused to accept that they were late, although I posted screenshots from their own ticketing system which clearly showed the time delays. Whoever answered (I think it was the boss) said something to the effect of 'we can't do more when you are paying $5 per month'. I had opted for the $59.95 per year service.

    The real shock came when I persisted in telling them (very politely but firmly) they were really late and in response, they simply shut down my account without warning. Yes, they actually did that.

    Fortunately, none of the 25-odd domains I had added at that point were pointing to DNSME yet - I had been on the verge of doing so - or, I would have been in real trouble.

    They would also merge tickets whenever they fancied it so that it was no longer possible for me to follow the trail of support tickets I had posted.

    Net result was that I lost $60 and ended up with a bad feeling about the whole experience. They only refunded $19.95 that I had recently added for more domains. I had been with them for about 3 months at that point.

    The irony of it is that I now spend hundreds of dollars each year with EasyDNS and Nettica. May not be on the same level as DNSME, but, at least they treat their customers with respect and their behaviour is not cheesy.
    Last edited by ramdak5000; 06-24-2010 at 09:45 PM. Reason: typo

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    455
    Quote Originally Posted by ramdak5000 View Post
    My experience with them was not good. They may run a great service, but they treat their customers badly - at least, that was my experience.
    If you need immediate and fast support why wouldn't you sign up for their Corporate Membership which is geared towards priority support?

    I have never had any problems with their support and I have found their support actually faster then much more expensive providers.

  25. #25
    ok let's say I don't care about redundancy - is it possible to set up a slave dns service on the same box

    If so how would I go about that? do I just create a new zone?

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