DNS Clustering

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Posted by Bluehivehost, 11-24-2014, 03:23 PM
I have a VPS with WiredTree running WHM/cPanel. Current DNS is setup using the nameservers of ns1.current-tld.com and ns2.current-tld.com I want to offload DNS from the WiredTree server and purchase 2 new VPS servers from 2 separate providers in 2 separate datacenters for redundancy. I also want to change the domain name used for DNS. Currently I'm using ns1 and ns2.current-tld.com for DNS on WiredTree. I have registered a brand new domain of new-tld.com I want to use ns1.new-tld.com on 1 of the new VPS servers and ns2.new-tld.com on the 2nd VPS for DNS. Its my understanding that I can install cPanel DNSOnly on each of the new VPS servers, and then configure the WiredTree VPS to use clustering. I found a tutorial on this and I think its straight forward But I wanted to see if anyone has ever used a different TLD for the purpose of DNS My main reason for the change in TLD for DNS is to provide some anonymity for resellers without the hassle of always having to setup private DNS for them.
Posted by Eased, 11-24-2014, 03:38 PM
Using another TLD for DNS has no issues as long as that nameservers holds the records for your domains. Just make sure you configure the cluster correctly for zone transfers (DNS roles, in cPanel) otherwise lookups will fail against some of your DNS servers. The DNS cluster settings need to be configured on each server in the cluster appropriately. https://documentation.cpanel.net/dis...figure+Cluster
Posted by Bluehivehost, 11-24-2014, 04:09 PM
Thanks for your reply Eased. That was my primary concern. What would become of all of the DNS records within the WiredTree VPS WHM/cPanel. Would I need to manually recreate all of those existing records within the cluster? Is there any way to migrate these records to the new cluster? I understand going forward that as new cPanel accounts are setup on the WiredTree VPS server that the DNS records would be created on the new VPS servers within the cluster. Correct?
Posted by ElixantTech, 11-24-2014, 04:43 PM
We have no issues utilizing a different TLD for our DNS Cluster. Rather than having 2 VPS with WiredTree running your DNS however, I would recommend multiple VPS in multiple locations around the world for redundancy.
Posted by ursa-musculus, 11-24-2014, 04:45 PM
Having set up your DNS cluster, go to Home » DNS Functions » Synchronize DNS Records on your WiredTree VPS. Choose "Synchronize all zones to all servers", and click Synchronize. Then whatdoyaknow - your DNS servers have all the zones copied across to them. From that point on, cPanel's clustering will keep them in sync (as long as you set the cluster up correctly). You can verify that the synchronise worked by looking at the /var/named directory on your DNS servers before and after synchronising. There should be very few zones (files ending in .db) before you synchronise, but all the zones from your WiredTree VPS should be there after synchronisation.
Posted by Bluehivehost, 11-24-2014, 05:26 PM
Thanks for your reply ElixantTech. My intent was to have 2 brand new servers, each with separate providers.
Posted by Bluehivehost, 11-24-2014, 05:50 PM
Thanks for your reply. I understand that the process you outlined would sync all of the current records on the WiredTree VPS to each of the new DNS VPS servers. However, would that not push ns1 and ns2.current-tld.com to each of the new VPS servers as well? I want change the TLD for the nameservers as well as doing the clustering. I want ns1.current-tld.com and ns2.current-tld.com to continue to be valid nameservers for any of the existing cpanel accounts on the WiredTree VPS, but on going, any new cPanel accounts added to the WiredTree server would be assigned ns1 and ns2.new-tld.com Does that make sense? I ultimately don't want all of the cpanel accounts which currently exist on the WiredTree server to suddenly not resolve because of the new TLD nameservers.
Posted by ursa-musculus, 11-24-2014, 05:59 PM
You're welcome That's exactly what it will do. It will push the zone for current-tld.com to the new VPS servers, and with that there will be A records for ns1 and ns2 which will resolve to your WiredTree VPS. But that's not a problem. It just means that, should someone query one of your your new VPS, and ask it for the IP address of ns1.current-tld.com, the correct answer would be returned. That's not an issue for you - nobody would know to try doing that, so this won't leak any information. Yup - I understood you there. cPanel's clustering is set up by you entering the FQDN of the other servers in the cluster; behind the scenes, what it stores are the IPs. It doesn't care if the clustered servers are all on the same TLD or not. They will be. You won't be changing the zones of your existing customer's domains. They won't be changing their nameserver settings at the registry. Everything will work for them as it does now. As long as you change the default nameservers for new accounts in WHM, that's exactly what will happen. Don't forget to change this in WHMCS as well, so new client are send the correct nameservers in their new account email. Perfect sense. There's no reason why it would break.
Posted by ursa-musculus, 11-24-2014, 06:09 PM
Two more thoughts: 1. One scenario I've never tested: If you change the nameserver settings in WHM, this affects new accounts. I don't know what NS records are created in the new zone if an existing account creates a new add-on domain. 2. For white-labelling, don't forget that your hosting server (WiredTree) has to have only one rDNS setting for its main domain. For optimal email deliverability, this should be the full host name of the server. That means this is also what people will see when they log in to the client-side of cPanel. That could break your attempts to fully white-label your setup, whilst putting new Reseller accounts on the same server as you have at present - unless you don't mind your existing clients seeing your new whitelabel domain appear in the address bar when they log in to cPanel. You'd also need to think what domain you'll install SSL certificates for, for things like SMTP, FTP etc.
Posted by Bluehivehost, 11-25-2014, 11:46 AM
Thanks for those 2 points OakHosting_James More than anything I am just trying to white label the actual nameserver domains. Not a big deal on the URL in the address bar. GoDaddy has done a good job of this though when they made the switch to cPanel. They have all of their cPanel servers running under the secureserver.net domain : https://p3plcpnl0093.prod.phx3.secureserver.net Are you saying that there would be an issue with just using a new TLD for DNS and using clustering? My plan is to leave cPanel/WHM still running on the current-tld.com
Posted by ursa-musculus, 11-25-2014, 11:52 AM
Only the issue with white-labelling. You'd have reseller's end-user clients using your nice new-tld.com nameservers with the registrar. They'd then want to configure Microsoft Outlook to send email using SMTP using TLS, and they'd have to give the server name as "server.old-tld.com" to get the certificates to match without a warning. You've just lost your white labelling. It sounds like you're not worried about that, in which case my other answer should do you fine.
Posted by Bluehivehost, 11-25-2014, 01:00 PM
The more I am thinking about this, maybe I should explore some more of a white labeled approach. I supposed I could technically register a new TLD such as bhsecureserver.net and swap out the domain name on the main WiredTree server to use bhsecureserver.net for all cPanel accounts. Then move the main website for the hosting company off to a new server to provide some separation. All cPanel accounts could then inherit ns1 and ns2.bhsecureserver.net as their nameservers while also moving DNS for ns1 and ns2.bhsecureserver.net over to each of their own VPS to cluster DNS. Perhaps I am making this whole thing too complicated :-/ I just have this feeling that I should begin the process of separating out services to separate servers to provide some scalability for the future.
Posted by ElixantTech, 11-25-2014, 02:10 PM
I believe this is over-complicating things. Just because the OP wants to change the nameservers for the system doesn't quite mean they have to change the system's hostname. As the current DNS would be presented in the cluster, the only changes customers would notice is the ns change, nothing else.
Posted by ElixantTech, 11-25-2014, 02:11 PM
Sorry for the double post -- just noticing, are you just using a Godaddy reseller account? Or do you have your own dedicated server..... @Bluehivehost
Posted by ursa-musculus, 11-25-2014, 03:07 PM
This came out of their opening post: Putting the nameservers on a different domain would give an impression of anonymity, but the impression wouldn't last long when the server's hostname was on the original domain. They're using a VPS from WiredTree:
Posted by Bluehivehost, 11-25-2014, 03:14 PM
No I am not using GoDaddy. I have a VPS with WiredTree @@ElixantTech

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