Backup Copy of Website on Different Server? FailOver? 3

[kjv1611]

I was wondering if anyone in here can offer any advice towards having a backup of a website on a separate web server with this train of thought:

Server1 where site is located goes down, so if only on one server, the site is down.

If backup in place, DSN routed to backup website.

I'm just curious at the moment, thinking in general terms. Is there any particular term or terms to search on for finding any sort of documentation about such products, strategies, etc?

Thanks for any thoughts.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[Stretchwickster]

It's sometimes called "Hosting Redundancy" or "Redundancy Hosting" and probably a host (no pun intended!) of other names too.

The web host I use has just surveyed its customers to see whether redundancy would be desirable, given the additional costs required.

I did a search for "redundancy hosting" and here's a couple of companies that came up in the results:
- MVI Solutions
- NuBlue Web Solutions

Also, you might be interested to read about Load Balancing

Clive

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"To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer." (Paul Ehrlich)
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To get the best answers from this forum see: faq102-5096

 

[kjv1611]

Thanks!

I don't think I really need any such site backup or failover right now, but just thinking... forward looking in case things change in the future.

Anybody else got any other references regarding this?

I'm guessing that this is or was mainly for big business, big pockets, such as Microsoft.

I just got to thinking, what if my entire web host went down, is there a way to have a "backup" site at a different host, and somehow automatically forward DNS requests there? I suppose that'd just have to be changed manually if it occurred with a redirect or else with a DNS change. Of course, that's assuming the host allowed everything to be down for an extended time period, which would probably be pretty rare, currently... I suppose.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[Stretchwickster]

Of course, that's assuming the host allowed everything to be down for an extended time period, which would probably be pretty rare, currently... I suppose.

Any decent host should have some kind of uptime guarantee and will provide financial compensation according to the duration of downtime. For example:

http://www.site5.com/hosting/guarantees/

Clive

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer." (Paul Ehrlich)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To get the best answers from this forum see: faq102-5096

 

[ChrisHunt]

For most of us, this kind of redudancy protection is probably not worth it. The cost of setting up and running this kind of redundancy will be more than the cost of occasional bouts of downtime. If downtime is becoming more frequent than that, it's probably better to switch hosts.

In the current financial climate, I think it's more worthwhile considering what you'd do if your host failed altogether. If the company went belly-up and the bailiffs siezed all their servers, could you rebuild your site?

Having been bitten like that once before, here's what I do - NEVER register a domain with the company who does your hosting. Use a separate domain registrar company and point the domain at your host's webservers. Take regular backups of your site, including any content that's held in databases (blogs, forum posts, etc.)

That way, if your host vanishes, all(!) you have to do is find a new host, upload/restore your site and point the domain at the new host. You'll be back up in a day or two, rather than being stuck in limbo for weeks as I was.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[kjv1611]

THANKS for the real life experience there. That's something I've not thought of for sure.

For instance, I have a few domains registered elsewhere, but my "primary" domain for each account so far is registered with the web host, b/c one of those "domain for life" deals.

For now, neither of my sites are for profit anyhow, though maybe one day.... in a land FAR FAR away... one will be. One of them is a church, the other is my sad "pretend" site for computer stuff.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me