Setting up an emergency mirror site

mirror

[66sore]

I was wondering how do I set up a mirror site that does not get the search engine duplicate content penalty.

Also, if my host is completely down (as mine was this weekend), there really is no way to point to a new site if the host is also the registrar.

Looks like I should separate the 2 items with different companies.

But back to my question....how do I set up a mirror without that penalty?

[webdoctor]

a mirror site that does not get the search engine duplicate content penalty

If your site is www.example.com, configure your mirror as www2.example.com, and add a robots.txt which blocks all the SE bots.

If your primary site goes down, you simply adjust your DNS so that www points to the mirror, and remove your robots.txt file, and you're all set.

[benevolent001]

once some one was saying , to specify separate name servers for the backup website and it your main host is dead the other host will be picked up from name servers...am not sure is it right to do or not

[GaryK]

I tend to keep all three points of failure isolated. I register the domain via NS. I use a third-party to handle my DNS. And different companies for my production and backup sites. Some might call that paranoid. I call it good advice based on over a decade of experience. Of course if NS dies the rest is pretty much useless. But if NS dies I suspect the internet, or at least sites in the US, would be pretty much useless since so many people register their domains through them despite the prevalence of discount registrars.