Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Colocation and Data Centers : DNS and Colocation

[dgessler]

I'm trying to figure out my whole DNS situation now that I switched over to colocation. I have 2 servers, one hosts multiple sites and the other is just a backup.

I'm not sure what to do with DNS hosting. I could either host my DNS on both the servers (ns1,ns2 main server ns3,ns4 backup server). Does this mean if the main server goes down (ns1,ns2) it'll start using ns2,ns3? If so, can I just have ns2,ns3 point to my backup server IPs and traffic will just resume on the backup of the main server goes down?

If I go with a service like DNSMadeEasy.com, can I just point my main domain's name servers to ns1.dnsmadeeasy.com, ns2, ns3, etc.. and then point all my other domain's name servers back to my main domain OR would I have to point all my individual domains to dnsmadeeasy's name servers?

[HNLV]

Ah...if it were only that easy.

You need to know that no matter how many nameservers you have, your DNS records must be IDENTICAL on all those servers.

So if your main server is 1.1.1.2 (main server) and the A record for your domains DNS is 1.1.1.2, when 1.1.1.2 fails, you need to manually change the DNS A record to 2.2.2.2 (backup server) to point to your backup server.

dnsmadeeasy does have a feature where it automatically changes the A record in case there is a failure on your primary IP to your other backup IP.

[mgphoto]

I would suggest to have you point all your individual domains to dnsmadeeasy's name servers. It's easy to manage and reliable.