Doing failover the cheap way

[David Thielen]

Hi;

We want to make sure our company website is available 24/7 regardless
of network outages. So we were thinking of taking the following
approach:

We have 2 identical servers. One in Colorado (where we are) and one in
California.

Both are our DNS server as well as our webserver. The DNS part on both
is identical for all names other than the web server (our MX,
intranet, etc). But for the web server - each system's DNS points to
itself and not the other box.

So when someone wants our website, their name resolution will ask for
a DNS server, will get one, will go to that machine, it will give it's
own IP address, and it will then get the web page.

But, if that machine is not reachable, then the initial DNS request
will fail and it will then go to the second DNS server, which will
then return it's IP address.

Will this work well in practice? Is it the best inexpensive approach
to make sure we are always up?

david@[email protected]
Windward Reports -- http://www.WindwardReports.com
me -- http://dave.thielen.com

Cubicle Wars - http://www.windwardreports.com/film.htm

 

[Allen Chen [MSFT]]

Hi David,

If my understanding is correct, your solution is to add a secondary DNS. If
a primary server is unavailable, a secondary server can provide some name
resolution in the zone until the primary server is available. However, the
data is synchronized in the primary server and the secondary server so I
don't think it can work in practice.

Currently there're three options that help to keep a site available 24/7.
Following article compares these three options:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/itsolutions/ecommerce/deploy/duwwsr
.mspx?mfr=true

If you decide to use Windows 2000 Advanced Server please refer to following
article for more details:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742454.aspx

If you have further questions I suggest you ask in the Windows NT Server
newsgroup. It's a more proper place to ask such questions:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/community/newsgroups/serveros/winnt
.mspx?mfr=true

Regards,
Allen Chen
Microsoft Online Support

Delighting our customers is our #1 priority. We welcome your comments and
suggestions about how we can improve the support we provide to you. Please
feel free to let my manager know what you think of the level of service
provided. You can send feedback directly to my manager at:
(e-mail address removed).

==================================================
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handled working with a dedicated Microsoft Support Engineer by contacting
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==================================================
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--------------------
| From: David Thielen <[email protected]>
| Subject: Doing failover the cheap way
| Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:30:25 -0600
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|
| Hi;
|
| We want to make sure our company website is available 24/7 regardless
| of network outages. So we were thinking of taking the following
| approach:
|
| We have 2 identical servers. One in Colorado (where we are) and one in
| California.
|
| Both are our DNS server as well as our webserver. The DNS part on both
| is identical for all names other than the web server (our MX,
| intranet, etc). But for the web server - each system's DNS points to
| itself and not the other box.
|
| So when someone wants our website, their name resolution will ask for
| a DNS server, will get one, will go to that machine, it will give it's
| own IP address, and it will then get the web page.
|
| But, if that machine is not reachable, then the initial DNS request
| will fail and it will then go to the second DNS server, which will
| then return it's IP address.
|
| Will this work well in practice? Is it the best inexpensive approach
| to make sure we are always up?
|
| david@[email protected]
| Windward Reports -- http://www.WindwardReports.com
| me -- http://dave.thielen.com
|
| Cubicle Wars - http://www.windwardreports.com/film.htm
|

 

[Allen Chen-MSFT]

Hi David,
If my understanding is correct, your solution is to add a secondary DNS. If
a primary server is unavailable, a secondary server can provide some name
resolution in the zone until the primary server is available. However, the
data is synchronized in the primary server and the secondary server so I
don’t think it can work in practice.

Currently there’re three options help to keep a site available 24/7.
Following article compares these three options:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/itsolutions/ecommerce/deploy/duwwsr.mspx?mfr=true

If you decide to use Windows 2000 Advanced Server please refer to following
article for more details:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742454.aspx

If you have further questions I suggest you ask in the Windows NT Server
newsgroup. It’s a more proper place to ask such questions:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/community/newsgroups/serveros/winnt.mspx?mfr=true

Regards,
Allen Chen
Microsoft Online Support

Delighting our customers is our #1 priority. We welcome your comments and
suggestions about how we can improve the support we provide to you. Please
feel free to let my manager know what you think of the level of service
provided. You can send feedback directly to my manager at:
(e-mail address removed).

==================================================
Get notification to my posts through email? Please refer to
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/aa948868.aspx#notifications.

Note: The MSDN Managed Newsgroup support offering is for non-urgent issues
where an initial response from the community or a Microsoft Support
Engineer within 1 business day is acceptable. Please note that each follow
up response may take approximately 2 business days as the support
professional working with you may need further investigation to reach the
most efficient resolution. The offering is not appropriate for situations
that require urgent, real-time or phone-based interactions or complex
project analysis and dump analysis issues. Issues of this nature are best
handled working with a dedicated Microsoft Support Engineer by contacting
Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) at
http://support.microsoft.com/select/default.aspx?target=assistance&ln=en-us.
==================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[David Thielen]

thank you very much.


On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:37:01 -0700, Allen Chen-MSFT <Allen

Hi David,
If my understanding is correct, your solution is to add a secondary DNS. If
a primary server is unavailable, a secondary server can provide some name
resolution in the zone until the primary server is available. However, the
data is synchronized in the primary server and the secondary server so I
don’t think it can work in practice.

Currently there’re three options help to keep a site available 24/7.
Following article compares these three options:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/itsolutions/ecommerce/deploy/duwwsr.mspx?mfr=true

If you decide to use Windows 2000 Advanced Server please refer to following
article for more details:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742454.aspx

If you have further questions I suggest you ask in the Windows NT Server
newsgroup. It’s a more proper place to ask such questions:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/community/newsgroups/serveros/winnt.mspx?mfr=true

Regards,
Allen Chen
Microsoft Online Support

Delighting our customers is our #1 priority. We welcome your comments and
suggestions about how we can improve the support we provide to you. Please
feel free to let my manager know what you think of the level of service
provided. You can send feedback directly to my manager at:
(e-mail address removed).

==================================================
Get notification to my posts through email? Please refer to
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/aa948868.aspx#notifications.

Note: The MSDN Managed Newsgroup support offering is for non-urgent issues
where an initial response from the community or a Microsoft Support
Engineer within 1 business day is acceptable. Please note that each follow
up response may take approximately 2 business days as the support
professional working with you may need further investigation to reach the
most efficient resolution. The offering is not appropriate for situations
that require urgent, real-time or phone-based interactions or complex
project analysis and dump analysis issues. Issues of this nature are best
handled working with a dedicated Microsoft Support Engineer by contacting
Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) at
http://support.microsoft.com/select/default.aspx?target=assistance&ln=en-us.
==================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

david@[email protected]
Windward Reports -- http://www.WindwardReports.com
me -- http://dave.thielen.com

Cubicle Wars - http://www.windwardreports.com/film.htm