Executive Summary
Get the benefits of multiple, geographically dispersed nameservers and backup mail servers at a low cost. Services provided by the best DNS provider in the business, EasyDNS, and arranged by me for other forum members.
Redundant DNS and mail servers service, including set-up: US $14.95/year
Redundant DNS and mail servers service, including set-up, plus domain name registration (via eNom): US $26.95/year
Background
I've posted here about the value of having multiple distributed nameservers and backup Mx (mail) servers. I simply would not risk my business and my e-mail on a domain set-up without that redundancy.
The DNS standard requires at least two nameservers per domain, though it recommends using more nameservers that are geographically distributed and on different Class C IP ranges. When we use our private nameserver on Voxtreme, we have only a single nameserver*. That is risky, as there is no redundancy and connections from other parts of the world can sometimes be slow.
Moreover, it's very risky to have a single mail server, as we do on Voxtreme. With the deluge of spam and viruses, it's more likely than ever to lose mail as the result of server load or errors. Backup mail servers provide redundancy, as they will receive your mail whenever your Voxtreme server is unable. Once your Vox server is again able, the backup mail servers will deliver the mail to your Voxtreme server.
* (Yes, you get two private nameserver names here at Vox, ns1.yourdomain.com and ns2.yourdomain.com, but those are just to get around the requirement for two nameservers. Both those names are on your single Voxtreme server, so that is really only one nameserver.)
Many of you have contacted me to ask about these services, but most haven't implemented them either because of the complexity or the cost. I have a solution for my fellow Voxers.
Solution
I'm buying services in bulk from EasyDNS, the best DNS provider in the business, and can in turn offer those services to each of you. I have eliminated the complexity of using external DNS by two means:
1. I will do all the set-up at EasyDNS for you, so you don't need to know anything about DNS.
2. Your private nameserver on Voxtreme will remain as your primary nameserver, so any changes or updates you do in WHM or cPanel will automatically propagate to the EasyDNS nameservers.
Additional nameservers provide enhanced performance and added redundancy. DNS lookups can occur to any of the nameservers, and will therefore usually occur on the fastest route. Resolution is quicker and more reliable.
You will get the benefit of five EasyDNS nameservers on different, multi-homed network backbones. They are distributed geographically and topologically. So, in addition to your Voxtreme nameserver in New Jersey, USA, you will have the benefit of two nameservers in Toronto, Canada, two in Texas, USA, and one in London, England.
You'll also get two backup mail servers (actually more than two, since each mail server address maps to a bank of physical mail servers), to increase the reliability of your e-mail.
Example
minardbernier.com is hosted here on Voxtreme. Its default set-up is, of course, to use private nameservers (ns1.alantext.com and ns2.alantext.com), and its mail server is also minardbernier.com. I've added EasyDNS services, so that the domain now has six nameservers and three mail servers, as shown below:
Code:
Nameserver IP address Location
ns1.alantext.com 66.246.90.133 New York, USA
ns1.easyDNS.com 216.220.40.243 Toronto, Canada
ns2.easyDNS.com 205.210.42.20 Toronto, Canada
remote1.easyDNS.com 64.39.29.212 Texas, USA
remote2.easyDNS.com 212.100.224.80 London, England
remote3.easyDNS.com 64.39.29.216 Texas, USA
Code:
Three mail servers:
minardbernier.com (at Voxtreme)
smtp.easydns.com (backup)
smtp2.easydns.com (backup)
Here's a dnsReports output on the example domain.
I specified only one private nameserver, ns1.alantext.com, since the "second" one, ns2, is just another pointer to Voxtreme. As the goal here is to improve performance and redundancy, it doesn't make sense to me to have two pointers to the same server. If the Vox server is slow or has a slow route between it and the incoming traffic, it's better for the lookup to try one of the EasyDNS servers rather than to try Voxtreme a second time. However, if you prefer to see both your private nameservers in the list, ns1.yourdomain.com and ns2.yourdomain.com, then I will add both of them for you.
How it will work
You provide me the following details:
1. domain name
2. domain registrar
3. if your registrar won't let you specify all six nameservers, what is their limit? (eNom and Godaddy allow all six)
4. primary nameserver hostname and IP address (if on Vox and using private nameservers, likely ns1.resellerdomain.com + your reseller IP)
5. mail server name (if on Vox, likely just yourdomain.com)
6. how many years of service you want to buy
7. your e-mail address
I'll contact you before I do anything. Then you will have to enter some changes in your DNS Zone in WHM. If you're not comfortable doing this, I'd be happy to do it for you. You'll also have to enter the complete list of nameservers at your domain registrar.
Finally, I will do all the set-up at EasyDNS. Your private Vox nameserver will be set as primary, with all other nameservers propagating from the primary. The two additional mail servers will be set to provide backup Mx.
If you want to transfer to my eNom account as registrar, I can also take care of the registrar entries for you and include another year or more of domain name registration. Otherwise, you'll have to make the registry changes yourself.
Offer
Redundant DNS and mail servers service, including set-up: US $14.95/year
Redundant DNS and mail servers service, including set-up, plus domain name registration (via eNom): US $26.95/year
Price is per domain. Payment by PayPal or cheque. Contact me by e-mail
Note: I charge my clients more for these services. These prices are for other Voxtreme resellers and their clients, as long as my point of contact is the Voxtreme reseller. One reseller who contacted me suggested that I should make some profit for my work. So, if you're going to resell this to your clients at a markup, you might consider sharing some of the markup with me.
