Tertiary DNS

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  • Frank Hagan
    Senior Member
    • Mar 2004
    • 724

    Tertiary DNS

    If I add a tertiary DNS record that points to a different server, will it direct browser requests to that server if the primary and secondary requests fail?

    Here's the scenario:

    1. Primary and secondary DNS servers have mydomain.com pointing to my real server's IP address, just like "normal".

    2. Tertiary DNS server points mydomain.com to a different server, which then displays a "Primary Server Down" information page.

    3. This assumes I can have mydomain.com listed on that second server without some kind of conflict, right?
  • Buddha
    Senior Member
    • Mar 2004
    • 825

    #2
    Where are the DNS's located?
    "Whatcha mean I shouldn't be rude to my clients?! If you want polite then there will be a substantial fee increase." - Buddha

    Comment

    • AndrewT
      Administrator
      • Mar 2004
      • 3653

      #3
      DNS does not work that way. Which DNS server is used is chosen randomly, not in order of which work.

      Comment

      • Frank Hagan
        Senior Member
        • Mar 2004
        • 724

        #4
        I guess that "DNS failover" and "DNS roundrobin" are only for very large sites, where you have two servers with the same content and users are routed to each server on a 50/50 basis. I was looking for a "failover" type of service that would provide a way to point the browser to another server ... but the only thing I can find referenced are hardware solutions. $$$, and since downtime has been very rare on my server here at Dathorn, not worth the $$$!

        So, I think I'll go back to my original idea, using the .net version of my main domain name on another server as the "backup emergency" site, and let my customers know that if they can't reach my .com site, they can go to the .net site for updates. Unless someone has a better idea.

        Comment

        • mdmcginn
          Junior Member
          • Mar 2004
          • 22

          #5
          Using two different DNS servers or hosting servers means that if one server is down, your site is guaranteed to be unreachable half the time, even if your "primary" (favorite) one is working fine. A guaranteed 50% reliability is better than 0% but it isn't 100%. So I'm not sure that's what I want. When I changed hosts quickly, I tried it, thinking that ISPs who hadn't updated their DNS records would send visitors to the old host and the rest would send visitors to the new host. I imagined I could see that Dathorn's servers were faster.

          Comment

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