Primary ans secondary nameservers on different hosts... good idea?

[nell1]

Hi,

Is it a good idea to have the primary nameserver and secondary nameserver with different hosts? The idea being that if one cannot resolve it will be picked up by the other.

I am trying to ensure that a site will remain live as much as possible. However by doing this, will it only resort to the second nameserver if the primary is down? Is there any DNS clashing issues to doing this? When I spoke to one of the hosts they advised me against such a practice....not sure why.

Gratefull for any help!!

Nell1

 

[lullysing]

DNS security dictates that a second DNS is beter than no secondary DNS. IF you have the other DNS on another network entirely, it makes it even more secure ( but more expensive, cuz SOMEONE is bound to charge you for that service).

_____________________________
when someone asks for your username and password, and much *clickely clickely* is happening in the background, know enough that you should be worried.

 

[GlenJohnson]

Is it a good idea to have the primary nameserver and secondary nameserver with different hosts?
Do you mean isp's when you say hosts? If so, no, keep both dns servers on the same network, allowing them to sync. More than one dc is always the best way to go. Good luck.

Glen A. Johnson
"To fear the worst oft cures the worse."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616); English dramatist, poet.

Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at FAQ219-2884

 

[nell1]

Yeah, when I say hosts I mean isp's. Just a couple of question's Glen... what do you mean when you say that both dns servers on the same network will allows then to 'sync'?

Also, not sure what you mean by 'dc'?

Cheers!

Nell1

 

[chelenegro]

sync=synchronize
dc=W2K domain controller
I agree with both Glen and lullysing, better to have 2 DNS's than just one. The level of security/reliability depends on how much you wanna spend and how much you are willing to dedicate to administration of your infrastructure.
Glen suggests both NS in same network but you can also investigate if it's possible to set them up in different ones and how much that would cost you. Watch out on the clients configuration settings as well, you'll need to keep this documented.
As an example on what I run: 4 global UNIX name servers, one per region replicating ("sync&quot zone info between themselves for the four main different regions. Clients have primary Name Server on their region and Secondary on a different one depending on how I designed it.
Hope this helps.

Jose Luis Martin Cenjor, CCNA, CCNP
HP Global Technology Solutions

http://www.hp.com

 

[skotman]

Well years ago (and even today to some extent) the reason for having DNS servers on two different networks was that if one went down the other would still answer (hopefully). I would recomend getting the one your web host has plus zoneedit (

http://www.zoneedit.com).

They have many back bone connections and are free to a point.

Scott Heath

http://www.scottspad.com

AIM: orange7288

 

[nell1]

I have a zoneedit account skotman and may well create a zone and point the secondary name server to it. Thanks for everyone's input on this. Feel more confident about results now.

Cheers!

Nell1