Can I use zonedit.com to provide DNS for a subdomain

[gator]

Here is my situation. I have a single server that hosts my primary domain and is also providing all my DNS functionality. So when this server is down so is the DNS for the domain which is fine since there is no server to point to while it is down.

But I would like to create a subdomain (something like status.mydomain.com) on another server which tells the world I am currently down. I was thinking about using a service like zoneedit.com as the DNS server for just this subdomain. So ideally if the primary domain (mydomain.com) is down then status.mydomain.com would still be accessible.

But I am thinking it may not be possible to specify different nameservers for the subdomain than I have for the primary domain. So is there a way to correctly configure this? Perhaps I am forced to replicate all subdomains of the primary domain on zoneedit.com for this to work correctly?

[mtindor]

Here is my situation. I have a single server that hosts my primary domain and is also providing all my DNS functionality. So when this server is down so is the DNS for the domain which is fine since there is no server to point to while it is down.

But I would like to create a subdomain (something like status.mydomain.com) on another server which tells the world I am currently down. I was thinking about using a service like zoneedit.com as the DNS server for just this subdomain. So ideally if the primary domain (mydomain.com) is down then status.mydomain.com would still be accessible.

But I am thinking it may not be possible to specify different nameservers for the subdomain than I have for the primary domain. So is there a way to correctly configure this? Perhaps I am forced to replicate all subdomains of the primary domain on zoneedit.com for this to work correctly?

Yes it is possible to set nameservers for any subdomain. However, in order for that to work, your primary will still need to be up.

1. use Zonedit to be a secondary and authoritative nameserver for your main domain
2. set up a subdomain with records in your primary domain zone such as:

subdomain.mydomain.com. IN NS ???.zoneedit.com.
subdomain.mydomain.com. IN NS ???.zoneedit.com.

3. use Zonedit to host the subdomain 'subdomain.mydomain.com'
- when you create this subdomain, zonedit will tell you what the nameservers are for that subdomain and you can put those nameservers in the entries listed above.

But in order for your subdomain to work at all would require that at least one of the authoritative nameservers for your primary domain is up - which is why you want #1.

Ideally you'll have to determine if to determine if your machine nameserver or the zonedit.com nameserver will be slaving from one or the other... or if you are going to just manually make sure that the records on your main server for your main domain and the records on zoneedit.com for your main domain are the same at all times without actually slaving.

As you can see, since you already have to set up one or more nameservers unattached to your main server just to make this work in the event that your main machine is down, you might as well not have a subdomain at all for this purpose and just edit the zonedit.com zone for your main domain when your server is down.

Even this isn't the best - what I would do in this case is:
1. have both zonedit.com nameservers and your own nameservers
2. make the zoneedit.com nameserver the master, and have your domain zone on your server be a secondary that slaves off of the master zone template at zoneedit.

That way, when your server is down, (a) zonedit still responds AND (b) you can edit zoneedit to redirect traffic elsewhere via its editing interface. Then when your main machine is back up, you'll edit the zoneedit zone to be the 'normal' zone entries again and your server will automatically pull those updates.

But that's making the assumption that zoneedit.com will allow your server to do an axfr zone transfer from their servers (i'm not sure they will) and that you actually configure your server to be a slave for your main zone instead of a master.

Mike

[MaraBlue]

Here is my situation. I have a single server that hosts my primary domain and is also providing all my DNS functionality. So when this server is down so is the DNS for the domain which is fine since there is no server to point to while it is down.

But I would like to create a subdomain (something like status.mydomain.com) on another server which tells the world I am currently down. I was thinking about using a service like zoneedit.com as the DNS server for just this subdomain. So ideally if the primary domain (mydomain.com) is down then status.mydomain.com would still be accessible.

But I am thinking it may not be possible to specify different nameservers for the subdomain than I have for the primary domain. So is there a way to correctly configure this? Perhaps I am forced to replicate all subdomains of the primary domain on zoneedit.com for this to work correctly?

It looks to me like what you're looking for is failover DNS, which ZoneEdit does offer (for a fee).

Just my .02, I've been testing several different backup DNS providers over the last few months, and I was surprised to find ZoneEdit one of the best, even compared to the expensive/over-priced options.

[Gene Steinberg]

It looks to me like what you're looking for is failover DNS, which ZoneEdit does offer (for a fee).

Just my .02, I've been testing several different backup DNS providers over the last few months, and I was surprised to find ZoneEdit one of the best, even compared to the expensive/over-priced options.

Another free possibility is everydns.net, which was founded by the same dude who created opendns.com and Phish Tank. Just be aware that the interface of everydns.net is rather obtuse, so you probably don't want to consider it unless you know your DNS.

Peace,
Gene

[MaraBlue]

Another free possibility is everydns.net, which was founded by the same dude who created opendns.com and Phish Tank. Just be aware that the interface of everydns.net is rather obtuse, so you probably don't want to consider it unless you know your DNS.

Peace,
Gene

You thought so? I found everydns.net a *lot* easier to use than zoneedit's interface, which is really confusing (not to mention ugly).

The only reason I prefer zoneedit to everydns is that with ZE I get a clean report from dnsreport.com, which wasn't the case with everydns. Bummed me out, since I really *wanted* to like everydns.