DNS...enough said, cause I am confused.

Hi, I just spoke with the folks at dnsmadeeasy

I didn't fully grasp how it works and read their tutorials and googled dns to learn more.

I am looking to ensure my dreamhost account's don't go down when things happen and my email doesn't go down either.

I will not leave dreamhost...i can't find a better host and i really do need most of their services...they do rock.

so, how I am understanding the way it works (and I already know I have it wrong.)

1. through my registrar, I change the dns records to point to dnsmadeeasy

2. through dnsmadeeasy my primary route to my website is through ns1.dreamhost.com etc. then I use the other ones they give me.

3. I put a static not so important website on another server (something that is there, but not as entailed as the one I have here, cause I don't want to have to change both when I make site changes.)

4. I also purchase their email dns services and point to dreamhost.

here is where I am confused...currently, at dreamhost, I point my records to simplicato...which I need to use, they offer a service I cannot get at dreamhost.

So, my main question is if my site's and email dns primary records are pointed to dnsmadeeasy and then pointed here and my mx records are pointed to simplicato, how do I ensure that my email never goes down? do I not point email to here at all and point directly to simplicato from dnsmadeeasy? I know I am confused at one of the above points...and any lamen's terms on how dns works would be so much appreciated.

thanks, hope this post isn't more confusing than I am.
barbara

In reply to:
1. through my registrar, I change the dns records to point to dnsmadeeasy

You should directly point to DH.

In reply to:
4. I also purchase their email dns services and point to dreamhost.

You don't have to. DH has email server.

I don't think this will ensure that your website and email do onot go down. Once you point the DNS to Dreamhost, DH is the place to hold your website and emails. If DH goes down, dnsmadeeasy can't help because the website and email are in DH.

If you are not confident with DH's email server, you should point DNS to dnsmadeeasy and use its email server.

Patrick,

Barbara is trying to implement a high-availability solution using dnsmadeeasy. This means that she needs a dns failover solution for both hosting and email.

This is not provided by DreamHost.

(Barbara, this is not my area of expertise, so I can't actually help. Apologies for this. I do have some expertise in enterprise failover from my job, but I'm not familiar with dnsmadeeasy's solution. If I have time this weekend, I might give it a study and see what I can come up with!)

Lensman: Thanks for the tips.

Barbara: pls then ignore my reply. I may be misleading you :( Hope somebody else can help you out

DNS...enough said, cause I am confused.