VPS and Nameservers

[frost]

I recently purchase a VPS and I have been tinkering around with custom nameservers.

I have been told that I need a different IP address for ns1 and ns2, is that true?

Are there any benifits/problems to setting both ns to the same IP?

Any input would be appreciated, thanks!

[wige]

You should have a different IP for each nameserver. More specifically, each one should be on a different network connection. That way if one nameserver or network goes down, the other server will still be accessible.

[frost]

I am still a little fuzzy about this.

If I have a site that has a dedicated IP: 1.1.1.11

And I set up 2 nameservers ns1.site.com and ns2.site.com

And I assign ns1.site.com to the ip 1.1.1.11, what do I do with ns2?

[wige]

Well, both name servers should point to the same IP address. However, each one should itself exist on a seperate IP address. This is the reason for having two name servers. If one becomes inaccessible, the other will take over.

[frost]

Thanks winge! Would you know of anywhere a guy could read up on VPS in general? Simple tutorials and how tos are hard to come by.

[deepsand]

Background info. - Virtual private server - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tutorials - vps tutorial - Google Search

[frost]

Did you just link me to a google search...that is pretty offensive.

You might check the google results to see that a lot of the results are people asking about this in other forums, if everyone just told eveyone to search google it would just be a big ol' cycle, break the cycle man.

[pdstein]

Pesonally, I don't think there's much benefit to having your second DNS on a different server if there's no redundnacy for the site itself.

The reason to have the second DNS on a different server is so that if your primary DNS goes down, visitors will automatically use the secondary DNS so they are routed properly to your website. However, if your website is on the sameserver as your primary DNS, then when your primary DNS is down then your site is down. So, there's not much point to having a secondary DNS on a separate server so that its still up and can route traffic to your site which is down.

The downside of having a secondary DNS on a separate server is just the hassle of setting it up and maintaining it. That's not a big deal though. There are are free DNS services like ZoneEdit.

- Paul

[frost]

Thanks Paul, that makes a lot of sense.

[wige]

The wikipedia page gives a pretty good definition of VPS. However, for a more detailed tutorial, there are too many factors to really suggest a specific tutorial. It depends what operating system is being used, what the purpose of the server is, what capabilities you are trying to use, etc. Generally speaking, the best tutorials are those provided by the hosting company you are getting your virtual hosting from. At the very least, they usually give a starting point for your research.

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by frost

Did you just link me to a google search...that is pretty offensive.

I am sorry that you found offense where none was intended.

Your query was most general, reading "Would you know of anywhere a guy could read up on VPS in general? Simple tutorials and how tos are hard to come by." Absent any specifics that would serve to inform as to your current knowledge of the subject at hand, given your use of the word "general," and the fact that the very nature of your original query demonstrated at least some lack of understanding of the basics re. redundant name servers, it is not unreasonable to make no presumptions as to either the level of detail that you seek or re. what steps you may have already taken in your search.

Originally Posted by frost

You might check the google results to see that a lot of the results are people asking about this in other forums, if everyone just told eveyone to search google it would just be a big ol' cycle, break the cycle man.

Why, pray tell, should anyone here be obligated to try to determine what others are seeking?

You should know that many who come to this and other forums as supplicants have done little to no independent research, with the result that many questions are repeatedly asked & answered, ad nauseum, with the result that replies such as mine are both common and deemed acceptable.

[frost]

heh heh, I was just bustin your chops, mission accomplished

You are probably right that the questions were a bit general. I will be more specific next time.

[deepsand]

No harm; no foul.