Nameservers sending me loopy LOL

[rogerdavis]

Can anyone answer this.

I have got two servers at different ips (server companies)

My main one had ns1 and ns2 ips in and works fine but Fdc have had a lot of outages lately so I thouhgt I would set my other server up as ns2 which i can do fine, so they all resolve ok BUT!!

When I put an ip in ns2 for a backup so if the first server goes down for a time I get all my sites going over to NS2 even though
ns1 is working fine ? if i do a test at dnsreport one min it says NS1 is the first one and refresh it and it list NS2 first I need to set it uop so it only goes to NS2 if NS1 is down which I thought is how it suppost to work ???

I did put into the first server the second servers ip as ns2 so it will tell the registry that ns2 is the second NS aswell and tried that but that did not do it, am I missing something here or has it got to be NS3 for the second server as perhaps ns1 and two are always the prime Nameservers and ns3 is used for backup at the registry !!

Or could it be my ttl are wrong or need diferent times, the main one is 14400 and the second NS IS SET AT 14000 ALSO TRIED 9800 but seems not to make any difference.

Basikly as I say I just want the other server to only lock in when the first one is off as I have 500+ websites sent to the second server even when the first one is live LOL.

perhaps jailsman may possibly point me in the correct way tio do it.

And before you say are the NS set up right Yes they are and coming up fine its got to be the way they send the info into the registry to stop them swapping to ns2 when ns1 is up and fine, if I stop the second machine by as I say taking out the A record or ip number at the second nameserver then all goes to the first mashine fine at pointing to the correct server, but thats because ns2 is down but it will not lock in as soon as I put ns2 live it automaticly swaps all to the second nameser it sending me round the loony.

All help woul be great !!

Les

 

[nobaloney]

My main one had ns1 and ns2 ips in and works fine but Fdc have had a lot of outages lately so I thouhgt I would set my other server up as ns2 which i can do fine, so they all resolve ok BUT!!

I'm having a bit of trouble with your terminology; for example the only definition I have for Fdc is "floppy disk controller".

When I put an ip in ns2 for a backup

I'm not sure what you mean... ns1 and ns2 are simply for master and slave nameservers; they have nothing to do with backing up sites. Do you mean what I call poort man's replication where there are sites on two servers? If so, then DNS should ideally be hosted on yet another server. If it's posted on the same server then the IP# on the first server needs to point to the site on the first server and the IP# on the second server needs to point to the site on the second server.

so if the first server goes down for a time I get all my sites going over to NS2 even though
ns1 is working fine ?

Dp you mean that once the first server comes back people are still visiting the second server?

if i do a test at dnsreport one min it says NS1 is the first one and refresh it and it list NS2 first I need to set it uop so it only goes to NS2 if NS1 is down which I thought is how it suppost to work ???

DNS will always return nameservers in random order. You'll always get hits on both servers when both servers are up.

I did put into the first server the second servers ip as ns2 so it will tell the registry that ns2 is the second NS aswell

Your local server can't tell the registry anthing; it can only point prospective visitors to an IP# it believes will resolve to the site.

and tried that but that did not do it, am I missing something here or has it got to be NS3 for the second server as perhaps ns1 and two are always the prime Nameservers and ns3 is used for backup at the registry !!

The name of the name servers do not matter.

Or could it be my ttl are wrong or need diferent times, the main one is 14400 and the second NS IS SET AT 14000 ALSO TRIED 9800 but seems not to make any difference.

14400 is four hours. 14000 is three hours, 53 minutes and 20 seconds. 9800 is two days, 43 minutes, and 20 seconds.

If you want DNS to react quickly you shouldn't use more than 600 TTL.

Note that even then you won't have 100% availability, many browsers, servers, routers, and ISPs (including AOL) do their own caching, and ignore the TTL.

Basikly as I say I just want the other server to only lock in when the first one is off as I have 500+ websites sent to the second server even when the first one is live LOL.

You can't do that with DNS alone.

perhaps jailsman may possibly point me in the correct way tio do it.

I don't know of any solution that will give you 100% uptime. "Jailsman", eh? My brother is the "Jailsman"; not me (he used to work in the private prison business).

And before you say are the NS set up right Yes they are and coming up fine its got to be the way they send the info into the registry to stop them swapping to ns2 when ns1 is up and fine, if I stop the second machine by as I say taking out the A record or ip number at the second nameserver then all goes to the first mashine fine at pointing to the correct server, but thats because ns2 is down but it will not lock in as soon as I put ns2 live it automaticly swaps all to the second nameser it sending me round the loony.

If there are two servers then DNS Reports (and in fact all of DNS) will report the servers in round-robin order. But that won't decide which server gets the hit; The local user's system will use the response it gets first.

Jeff