What would this be? Possible?

[Spook]

I have a dedicated and a VPS.

one.example.com = Dedicated hostname (DA)
5 IPs

two.example.com = VPS hostname (Plesk)
1 IP

Presently I have one.example.com hosting example.com with two.example.com doing nothing.

Just experimenting, I had setup both with example.com with VPS only serving as a nameserver for example.com and also experimented with the VPS being a DNS slave to the other.

What I am wrestling with is if I can use two.example.com as a 3rd nameserver for example.com and also host other domains?

..or is something like this possible:

host: one.example.com		host: two.example.com
primary TLD: example.com	primary TLD: something.com
providing: ns1.example.com	providing: ns2.example.com
	   ns2.something.com		   ns1.something.com

..thus allowing me to create vhosts on one.example.com using ns1 & ns2.example.com as their nameservers and then on two.example.com allowing vhosts with nameservers of ns1 & ns2.something.com.

..allowing me to manage hosted sites independantly on each server, both being their own master DNS, yet still providing secondary nameservers for each other for geographical advantage.

I have elementary knowledge of DNS and have not had any real problems setting up and using the DNS for one machine but having two machines has filled my head with questions and confusion. I've scoured the net for examples and have read numerous articles, and grasp I think the master/slave DNS arrangement but can't quite determine if configuraing one machine as a slave means that I give up or limit/complicate (given the parameters of both machine resources/IP) being able utilize each machine fully and separately for hosting.

Basically, it would be nice to utilize each machine to compliment one another somehow but I don't really want to 'merge' them into one domain like a hosting company might do. I figure if I do try and sell any space it will be in the dedicated machine. The VPS I figure will be used for my own parking of domains and developement of domains, etc.

 

[nobaloney]

DA will allow you to do it, using either master2slave or DA's built-in features.

Plesk may or may not allow it; to allow it, it must be able to manage DNS for domains it doesn't host.

Jeff

master2slave can be installed on both servers, and should be able to do the job, possibly with some tweaking.

But Plesk may become confused. I don't know.

Jeff

 

[Spook]

Hi Jeff,

I have your Master2Slave script and have thought about giving it a try.

After finding/reading various posts about using a DA equipped machine as a slave DNS it appeared a bit more involved than I hoped.

It seems that I was wanting to utilize each server as both a master and slave DNS, which Plesk seems to make available without the need to manually get my hands into zone files. It also appears that for the DA equipped machine I'd have to get more intimate with bind and farther from 'out of the box' configuration -- which I need to grasp first.

I have since been able to come up with a reasonable configuration I think. I get all 'green lights' at dnsreport so it seems good.

DA Equipped Dedicated		Plesk Equipped VPS
---------------------		------------------
host: one.example.com		host: two.example.com
primary TLD: example.com	primary TLD: something.com
providing: ns1.example.com	providing: ns2.example.com
					   ns1.something.com

Utilizing some DNS tweaks at the registrar of 'comething.com', 1&1. Not exactly what I had visioned but close enough since the VPS will be moreso for my own projects and not be needing zone changes as a hosting provider might like. I decided to simply forgo trying to finagle the dedicated with DA into a slave DNS.

Earlier I tried a hidden master approach for the VPS with granitecanyon but became impatient with their SOP/e-mail verification and propagation times and dumped that experiment.

At any rate, I thank you for your input and will surly give your script a try for the master/slave arrangement I presently use once I get a bit more of my domain developement done. I like the additional safeguards you have taken into consideration with the script, which I don't have right now.

 

[nobaloney]

Be very careful using master2slave on the Plesk server. I have no idea how it would interfere with Plesk. It was designed to work with generic DNS servers and is known to work properly on DA servers.

It has NOT been tested on Plesk servers.

Here's what I'd do if the version of Plesk you're using allows you to set up slave DNS:

Set up the slave DNS manually on the Plesk server for the domains hosted on the DA server.

Set up master DNS manually (since DA doesn't yet do slave DNS through the control panel) on the DA server for the domains hosted on the Plesk server.

This should work, and it's certainly safe.

The only problem is if you're getting a lot of signups, because you have to do it all manually.

Jeff

 

[Spook]

Thanks for the info Jeff. I'm kind of deep into some site design now so it may be a bit (or a DNS problem arises ) before I have a change to work with the script.

I will post back though with my findings, when available.