External DNS hosts...
So after answering lots of queries regarding Web Hosting setup, i thought to post about it here. This is regarding use of “External DNS Host…” Most of newbies get confused because of type of setup they want.
Type of DNS setups of site:
- Web host and dns host both are same…….i.e using web hosts name servers.
- Using separate DNS host and Web Host…
Both setups have their own advantages and dis-advantages…..like
Setup 1
Here we just use all services of web host including DNS hosting too…. like putting nameservers of Web Hosts @ registrar wrks that way… This setup can be recommended ONLY when the web host is highly reliable and NOT with free or cheap web hosts. The main reason for that being since most of people now-a-days use email at their domain, and using a cheap or free web host’s dns can cause a whole lot trouble :-o But its always good type of setup when one is having a really good web host having really high (99.9%+) uptime, and one doesn’t needs access to DNS records of domain (which is often not required by a general user hosting one zone with one host!)
Setup 2
This can be a much much reliable setup, i.e having separate dns hosting other then using web hosts servers for dns hosting. It can be useful as incase web host goes down, one can still have email working (as mostly people have email servers different from web hosting server!) And also there is an very interesting fact that Free DNS hosts are HIGHLY reliable as comapred to cheap/free web hosts!!! Thats my personal experience! ;) So in this setup easy way is just to create the following basic records
- A record for root zone pointing to the ip of the web server of your web host.
- Wildcarded A record (*.domain.com) also pointing to the ip of the web server of your web host (for sub-domains to work…)
- mx records (incase you are using 3rd party email hosting rather then your web host…) so just simply create mx records with proper priority values …and done!!!but in case you have email hosting same as your web host’s then just leave step 3 and everything will go fine :)
So here’s the comparison b/w the both hosting methods…
| Feature's | Using Web Host's DNS | Using External DNS Host |
| Nameserver's hosting DNS | often 2 | mostly 4 |
| Control on TTL and SOA Parameter's | no | yes |
| 3rd Party's mx records with priorities | no | yes |
| Shifting web hosting (in case of downtime) | n/a | yes |
| Email (in case of downtime by webhost) | down | up!!! |
| Option of hosting sub-domain from other hosts | no | yes |
| Reliablity | low | high |
| Creation of advanced records like SRV, HINFO, PTR etc | no | yes |
Note: The features of web hosts described here are general features which MOST of Web Hosts offers, and there is always a high probability of different features.
Summary
So finalizing facts, i can just say you MUST go with a good external DNS host (free or paid…) to get full control on DNS things like - DNS records (A,cname,mx,srv,AAAA,NS,HINFO,PTR) , TTL, control on SOA parameters.
All these features can be avoided ONLY if you use a really Good web host and are fully satisfied with its features. ;)
Thanks for reading and plz don’t forget to leave comments.