Hello out there,
I'm lost in a confusing web of nameservers IP address and zone files and I wonder if someone can help me sort out how to proceed.
First some background:
I have a dedicated server hosting just one website. I design graphics and then allow my users to "hotlink" to these graphics and post them on their blogs or webpages or whatever. So, the server is getting totally overwhelmed and after much lengthy investigation I have concluded that I need to put the hosted images on one box and the website on a different box so that web site performance is not slowed down by all of the hotlink traffic.
The transition:
So, I decided that the easiest solution would be to register a new domain name for the images, which I have done, but it is still parked for the moment. (long story why I did it that way instead of using a subdomain). So... what I want to do is set up the new domain on the same server (for the moment) so I can change all of the links to my images to point to that new domain. Then in a month or so (there will still be thousands of links out there pointing to images on the original domain, so it's going to take a while before the traffic switches to the new domain) when much of the hotlink traffic is now going through the new domain I want to split the domains onto separate boxes. BUT I want to leave the new domain on the current box (because it will be hosting the images with all of the traffic and this box has un-metered bandwidth) and move the original domain to a new server (that will be a much cheaper server because it won't need the un-metered bandwidth).
The confusion:
So, I'd like to set this all up in such a way that will minimize any fuss when I separate out the domains to 2 separate boxes. So here comes my confusion. (Please bear in mind that my specialty is designing cute graphic dingbats, NOT server administration - so I'm a bit of a fish out of water in this whole area)
1) My current domain has nameservers on the same box ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com. Both nameservers are attached to the same IP address (I actually have 6 IP addresses on that box, but for some reason they're both set up on the same one... don't know why... someone else set it up for me.) In my reading it seems to say that ns1 & ns2 should be on different IP addresses, but it works fine. So, that confuses me...
2) How can I set up additional nameservers (ns1.MyDomainImages.com & ns2.MyDomainImages.com ??) on the same server so that when I remove the nameservers for my original domain (ns1.mydomain.com & ns2.mydomain.com)everything will still work? Can I do this at the admin level? (I don't have any resellers set up). Is there any way to set it up so that when I move the original domain to the new box these new nameservers can just stay the same?
3) I bought the new domain through GoDaddy, and they don't have any place to enter IP addresses, just nameservers. How can this possibly work?
4) Once I get the new nameservers set up, how do I add the new domain to my current box? Seems like I had to add the original one at the user level (I'm totally confused about switching between admin & user levels and what I should do where). Does each domain need it's own IP? Or is that handled through the nameservers? Help...
5) When I get the new box, how would I go about moving the original domain and nameservers to that new box. That domain is registered through one of my many previous hosts, and unlike GoDaddy it lists nameservers as well as IP addresses. Do I just change the IP address or addresses (see question 1) to the IP(s) on the new box? I'm assuming I'd have DirectAdmin on that box too.
6) Do I need to do anything manually to any of the zone files anywhere along the line here?
7) Is there any way to do all of this so that my users don't experience any downtime?
OK... I think that's it. My eternal gratitude to anyone who's even read through this whole thing! I would be very appreciative of any assistance that anyone could provide!
Thanks!
Rebecca
I'm lost in a confusing web of nameservers IP address and zone files and I wonder if someone can help me sort out how to proceed.
First some background:
I have a dedicated server hosting just one website. I design graphics and then allow my users to "hotlink" to these graphics and post them on their blogs or webpages or whatever. So, the server is getting totally overwhelmed and after much lengthy investigation I have concluded that I need to put the hosted images on one box and the website on a different box so that web site performance is not slowed down by all of the hotlink traffic.
The transition:
So, I decided that the easiest solution would be to register a new domain name for the images, which I have done, but it is still parked for the moment. (long story why I did it that way instead of using a subdomain). So... what I want to do is set up the new domain on the same server (for the moment) so I can change all of the links to my images to point to that new domain. Then in a month or so (there will still be thousands of links out there pointing to images on the original domain, so it's going to take a while before the traffic switches to the new domain) when much of the hotlink traffic is now going through the new domain I want to split the domains onto separate boxes. BUT I want to leave the new domain on the current box (because it will be hosting the images with all of the traffic and this box has un-metered bandwidth) and move the original domain to a new server (that will be a much cheaper server because it won't need the un-metered bandwidth).
The confusion:
So, I'd like to set this all up in such a way that will minimize any fuss when I separate out the domains to 2 separate boxes. So here comes my confusion. (Please bear in mind that my specialty is designing cute graphic dingbats, NOT server administration - so I'm a bit of a fish out of water in this whole area)
1) My current domain has nameservers on the same box ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com. Both nameservers are attached to the same IP address (I actually have 6 IP addresses on that box, but for some reason they're both set up on the same one... don't know why... someone else set it up for me.) In my reading it seems to say that ns1 & ns2 should be on different IP addresses, but it works fine. So, that confuses me...
2) How can I set up additional nameservers (ns1.MyDomainImages.com & ns2.MyDomainImages.com ??) on the same server so that when I remove the nameservers for my original domain (ns1.mydomain.com & ns2.mydomain.com)everything will still work? Can I do this at the admin level? (I don't have any resellers set up). Is there any way to set it up so that when I move the original domain to the new box these new nameservers can just stay the same?
3) I bought the new domain through GoDaddy, and they don't have any place to enter IP addresses, just nameservers. How can this possibly work?
4) Once I get the new nameservers set up, how do I add the new domain to my current box? Seems like I had to add the original one at the user level (I'm totally confused about switching between admin & user levels and what I should do where). Does each domain need it's own IP? Or is that handled through the nameservers? Help...
5) When I get the new box, how would I go about moving the original domain and nameservers to that new box. That domain is registered through one of my many previous hosts, and unlike GoDaddy it lists nameservers as well as IP addresses. Do I just change the IP address or addresses (see question 1) to the IP(s) on the new box? I'm assuming I'd have DirectAdmin on that box too.
6) Do I need to do anything manually to any of the zone files anywhere along the line here?
7) Is there any way to do all of this so that my users don't experience any downtime?
OK... I think that's it. My eternal gratitude to anyone who's even read through this whole thing! I would be very appreciative of any assistance that anyone could provide!
Thanks!
Rebecca
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