I am using PointHQ to manage DNS, but I want to setup an automated backup DNS solution.

I can see Linode support adding a slave zone, and accept update requests.

But I cannot find what the IP addresses are to notify Linode. Is it just the IP of ns1, ns2 etc?


Also, how would one know the domain on Linode has been updated? Because if I click on the domain name it does not show any records, just gives me the options for Domain, Masters and Domain Transfers. The Check and Zone File link on the domain list is strikedout. Does this mean it has not updated (in which case I have the wrong IP) or does it take time?

Thanks

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Web Development Agency in South Wales

Yep.


No, it just means that once established as a slave, you essentially take the zone out of control of the manager UI. I don't know for sure but suspect that the zone file link usually returns the manager's configuration for the zone so that no longer exists in slave mode. You can effectively do the same thing through a regular zone transfer (assuming you permit the appropriate client address in the zone configuration).

For monitoring purposes, for myself, I use an SOA query and verify the proper serial number against my master. That's not Linode specific per-se, but how I'd monitor/verify any slave DNS configuration. For debugging or initial testing, I'm not familiar with PointHQ, but standalone server software can log (or be configured to do so) the notifications and the zone transfers they trigger.

Generally speaking, zone updates in a slave setup are immediate, or nearly so as soon as the notification is generated. They aren't subject to the same 15 minute cycle you get through the manager UI.

-- David

PS: Oh, and with respect to your other posting, all records should be supported (it's a plain zone transfer from the master), so wildcards are fine in a master/slave setup.

Thanks for that.

I used these sites to query Linode's nameservers for my domain and it returns no results:
http://network-tools.com/nslook/
http://www.kloth.net/services/nslookup.php

So if these tools are the sort of tools that can query it then maybe its not updating my DNS?

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Web Development Agency in South Wales

The dig command is your friend. You can even script this to loop over all five and print the results:

dig +short <record> @ns1.linode.com

If you're doing a slave zone you need to make sure your slave zone is configured with the IP address(es) of the master nameservers. Once thats done, the Linode Nameservers will have their configuration updated at the next quarter hour and notifies / AXFRs should work assuming PointHQ is allowing AXFRs from our name servers.

-Tim

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'If debugging is the process of removing bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.' //Edsger Dijkstra
'Nothing is withheld from us which we have conceived to do.' | 'Do things that have never been done.' //Russell Kirsch