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DNS Strategy: Registrar, Linode, or 3rd party
https://forum.linode.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3494		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  xerbutter [ Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:33 am ]
Post subject:  DNS Strategy: Registrar, Linode, or 3rd party
Hello all,

I'm curious if anyone has an opinion on the best place to setup DNS for use with a Linode. It seems like there are 3 pretty easy options:

1) Set up DNS at your registrar. Many, such as a GoDaddy, include this service.

2) Use the Linode DNS Manager, also an included service.

3) Use a 3rd party DNS provider such as ZoneEdit or DNSMadeEasy. Some of these are free, but usually require payment beyond a certain # of domains or queries.

Are there are any big pros/cons to any of these options?

(Of course, there's a 4th option - run your own DNS server - but I'm not terribly interested in tackling that at the moment when the first 3 options seem good... but correct me if I'm wrong :) )

Thanks!
Author:  dmuth [ Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:35 am ]
Post subject: 
I've been using everydns.net for my domains.

This has worked out quite well, because it makes switching webhosts/email hosts very easy, and ensures that I can update DNS only when the new website is up and running.
Author:  mnordhoff [ Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:44 am ]
Post subject: 
I like Linode's DNS service. Free DNS hosts are often crippled (pay to change the TTL, pay to have more than X records, etc.), and Linode's isn't. There are also 4 different servers, which gives pretty good redundancy.

Also, I can sidestep figuring out which free DNS host is best and having to remember another username and password. ;)
Author:  Deviation [ Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:51 pm ]
Post subject: 
What about using multiple services? For instance, you host the primary and use Linode's service as a secondary/slave?
Author:  MrRx7 [ Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:10 am ]
Post subject: 
I have used www.Dyndns.com for my register/dns provider

Love their service // all my dns changes typically update within seconds and I have never had a DNS related issue with any of my hosting thus far.
Author:  xerbutter [ Thu Sep 04, 2008 4:18 am ]
Post subject: 
Thanks for all your input.

It sounds like using a registrar or 3rd party provider has the advantage of being one centralized place to manage all domains, even those not hosted here. 3rd party may have more features, but comes at a cost.

The idea of using Linode's DNS service as a slave to one of the above services seems interesting...I guess it would just provide more redundancy in case of an outage at the other provider?
Author:  Xan [ Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:45 am ]
Post subject: 
I'll second using dyndns.org, at least for domain registration. It costs a bit more than, say, GoDaddy, but the experience is night and day.

I don't use them for DNS, actually; after I quit being grandfathered into DNS Made Easy's older pricing, I started hosting my own DNS. I needed it to read from a database so I whipped something up to do that.
Author:  Deviation [ Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:26 pm ]
Post subject: 
xerbutter wrote:
The idea of using Linode's DNS service as a slave to one of the above services seems interesting...I guess it would just provide more redundancy in case of an outage at the other provider?

What I meant was hosting the DNS yourself and using Linode's DNS servers as the slaves.

Check out this post for more details.

I currently use Virtualmin GPL to configure my domains (yeah I know I'm lazy). My server hosts the master zone and Linode's servers host the slave.


Otherwise I would just use Linode's DNS service. Its free. Why not? :wink:
Author:  CybrMatt [ Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:24 pm ]
Post subject: 
When you say "my server," I'm curious what you mean. Do you mean your linode?

Personally, I think it's silly to host DNS on your linode *and* use the linode dns servers. Each have their own benefits, but not so much in combination.

Hosting your own...
Benefits: Maximal control over zone files, control of server features
Drawbacks: Not distributed, traffic costs against your quota, server eats against your memory

Using Linode...
Benefits: Distributed, doesn't cost you ram or bandwidth
Drawbacks: No super fancy features (but they do all most sites will need)

If you combine the two, you're losing your bandwidth and resources, but you're not really gaining any extra bandwidth or distribution. If your datacenter is up, linode's dns server is available, and so is yours. If it's offline, then both are offline.

Therefore, this scheme is only really beneficial if the personal server being referred to is somewhere completely different.
Author:  sweh [ Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:02 am ]
Post subject: 
Using linode's servers as secondaries gives you redundancy; they have DNS servers in Fremont (ns2), Atlanta (ns3), Dallas (ns1) and Newark (ns4). If your own linode goes down then there's a good chance that one of the other DNS servers is still up :-)
Author:  CybrMatt [ Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:09 am ]
Post subject: 
sweh wrote:
Using linode's servers as secondaries gives you redundancy; they have DNS servers in Fremont (ns2), Atlanta (ns3), Dallas (ns1) and Newark (ns4). If your own linode goes down then there's a good chance that one of the other DNS servers is still up :-)


But why as secondaries vs as primaries? You get the same redundancy by using their servers exclusively.
Author:  mnordhoff [ Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:21 am ]
Post subject: 
CybrMatt wrote:
But why as secondaries vs as primaries? You get the same redundancy by using their servers exclusively.


What if you need some advanced feature Linode's DNS manager doesn't support, or you just like running your own DNS server?
Author:  CybrMatt [ Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:26 am ]
Post subject: 
mnordhoff wrote:
CybrMatt wrote:
But why as secondaries vs as primaries? You get the same redundancy by using their servers exclusively.


What if you need some advanced feature Linode's DNS manager doesn't support, or you just like running your own DNS server?


Advanced features likely won't benefit you in this case, since Linode's servers are unlikely to support the features as secondaries. It depends on whether the limitation is with the manager or with the server backend itself.

If you like running your own, well, that's a fair argument, but it doesn't seem to be the kind of thing someone would need recommended to them. I assume you'd already realize you want to run your own without asking people. :)
Author:  Jay [ Fri Sep 05, 2008 1:20 am ]
Post subject: 
CybrMatt wrote:
Advanced features likely won't benefit you in this case, since Linode's servers are unlikely to support the features as secondaries. It depends on whether the limitation is with the manager or with the server backend itself.


I'm pretty sure that if it can be represented in a bind zonefile, Linode's servers can handle it.

I'm actually thinking of switching to a hybrid solution like this, because I need to serve up some ipv6 ptr records.
Author:  AVonGauss [ Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:36 am ]
Post subject: 
Jay wrote:
I'm actually thinking of switching to a hybrid solution like this, because I need to serve up some ipv6 ptr records.


You can enter IPv6 forward (AAAA) records in the Linode DNS manager for the forward lookups, though for the rDNS entries you will need to either 1) run your own name server for the rDNS zone or 2) run your own name server and create a slave zone for the rDNS to the Linode DNS server or 3) use a third party service. Since the rDNS is separate from the forward lookups, the forward lookup DNS servers can be different than the rDNS servers.
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