Advanced DNS question
Hi there
I am moderately comfortable with DNS - however, I am setting up a new server and would appreciate some expert help with deciding the best way to configure Primary / Secondary DNS delegation.
Currently I am doing this:
1) My primary domain for the cpanel server is myhostingco.com
2) At the domain registrar, I point myhostingco.com to a CDN / anycast set up,
3) In anycast/CDN panel, I can then configure the nameservers to point to my server IP 123.456.789.10
4) When a new customer wants hosting - I simply update their domain DNS at their domain registrar to point to my vanity nameserver e.g. ns1.myhostingco.com - the change to the customer domain takes place globally in minutes (not days!) thanks to the anycast/cdn
I am aware that there are many, many tutorials on this kind of thing. In fact, it's information overload! I am aware of CloudFlare, DNSME, BUDDYNS, Hurricane Electric etc.... but I'm not exactly sure which route to take / steps to take to achieve this, and would be grateful to receive your advice.
Fortunately, this is a dev server (at the moment) and I have several test domains, so I can practice and nail this without affecting RW sites.
Thank you
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Hi, If you want faster propagation, and you are getting it with following the above-mentioned steps, then I think it you do not have to look for any other option. If you are looking for alternate solution, then you can look for Cloudflare as an alternative.. If you want to go with traditional method, then you can simply add in the nameservers of your server at the domain registrar end, but propagation will need time.. 0 -
Probably one of the best measures to ensure the fastest domain propagation/update is to modify the TTL prior to making any updates. You can achieve nearly instantaneous DNS updates with a little forethought and TTL modifications. 0 -
Your steps 1-4 should work irrelevant of the fact that you use anycast or not. DNS updates are always usually instantaneous. The propagation delay you speak of is caused by caching (The origin is always updated instantaneously ..but some of the nameservers you query will not get that update instantaneously.) . AnyCast routes packets to multiple servers making DNS fail proof or outage proof. I don't think using anycast DNS can help in mitigating propagation delay. Lowering TTL of the resource records should help. 0 -
Hello, The previous responses here should help. Feel free to let us know if you have any additional questions. Thanks! 0 -
Thank you for your replies. My steps 1 - 4 above do work fine. Except with step 4 - I have not been able to eliminate TTL / propagation time issue. TLDR; Basically - what are recommendations for managing hundreds of domains whilst retaining maximum speed in DNS changes? I don't really want to move registrars as that would be a major headache! Long answer; Since I prefer to use the domain registrar to manage the DNS (and not cpanel/whm zones in case of server downtime), the biggest issue I see is the initial clientdomain.com > myhostingco.com nameserver update. The propagation time is usually around 24hrs and unfortunately, in the domain Registrar panel, there is no access to a TTL setting for client domains. I suppose the only way to avoid that is to create an e.g. CloudFlare account for each client domain and then in the Registrar, point the clientdomain.com > Cloudflare nameservers and in CF have the DNS for that domain point to my server / myhostingco.com nameserver. I am considering the CF partner option. I know there is a cPanel plugin to allow individual client accounts to point the domain to CF from within their cPanel account. However, I am interested to know if there is a way to set up a "blanket template" or group folder so that any client domains added into Cloudflare directly, can simply all point to the same place (my server) --- or is that not advisable because e.g. some domains may have individual different DNS settings e.g. MX records. I have asked this Qtn in CF forum but got no response - so I am wondering what other cPanel administrators do! 0 -
Hi WorkinOnIt, very interesting your topic. "Did you find a solution to your problem? Note: if there not plugin to do this, then develop it. 0 -
No - I have not found a solution to this. Basically - I think the only solution is to import each domain separately into e.g. cloudflare if you want global DNS change to happen immediately - or use a script via their API. 0 -
See this: Whitelabel DNS with Amazon Route53 0 -
Thanks - though the AWS R53 I don't think really addresses my requirement. Besides, CloudFlare and many others also offer this. What I really want (as I have now) is my custom name servers on my Master domain - that all clients are pointing to - that can be some how all benefit from a CDN.... I'm really surprised this does not exist - though I have seen custom nameservers available at CF business plan for $200 month - even this will not help with bulk management of domains. I still see the only option is to import / enable each domain individually or write an API script - which is going to be a long process ! 0
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