Backup Web Host

Is there such thing?

[jcmiras]

Is it possible to have a back-up for your web host? I mean, for example, you have a website http://www.example.com hosted by HostingCompanyA and HostingCompanyB as a backup such that if HostingCompanyA is down, your website will still be up because it is now hosted by HostingCompanyB.

Thanks.

[deMorte]

I'm no expert on these matters and don't know what you're asking is even possible, but wouldn't it be easier to request a back-up server from HostingCompanyA? If it is a large company, maybe require the back-up server to be located elsewhere than the main server (in another city, for example).

[edited by: deMorte at 7:32 am (utc) on April 24, 2008]

[Realbrisk]

you will need dynamic dns

[jcmiras]

Thanks deMorte and Realbrisk. The reason why I want this scheme is to avoid a long website downtime. Though webhosting companies promised a 99% uptime, it is still equivalent to 3.65 days of downtime. This is still equivalent to large amount of money lost during downtime.

Realbrisk, how does "dynamic dns" works? Is it provided my domain registrars?

[Realbrisk]

its a 3rd party dns service that routes the server a or b if needed
sorry i can recommend any companys the only way i know about this is from a sales call

try this post [webmasterworld.com...]

[Key_Master]

Google "dns service" and you will find plenty of third party dns services.

I use a third party nameserver to handle dns for all of my domains (mainly because I find nameserver issues top the list in host related downtime). I also use a failover service for one important site I own.

Here's how the failover service works (simplified version). The dns service will send a bot to the primary site every 5 - 10 minutes or so. If the bot is unable to reach the primary site it will automatically switch to the backup server ip and your traffic will be routed to the backup server. During the failover period, the bot will continue to try to reach the primary server. When it detects that the site is back up and running it will automatically switch to the primary server ip and route the traffic back to the primary server.

Even with a failover service, you'll still have some downtime but it should be 15 minutes or less (depending on how your dns server is configured and how quickly the failover service detects an issue).

It's important to keep your failover site on a completely different host. Otherwise, if the primary host has problems, it's very possible that that the backup site will also have problems. If you have dynamic content that is regularly updated, you will also want to look into syncing the content between the two sites.

[edited by: Key_Master at 6:24 am (utc) on April 25, 2008]

[jcmiras]

Thanks Realbrisk and Key_Master. Your discussions are very helpful.

[Realbrisk]

I would recommend the failover site should be hosted on a different coast

you never know a major cable can be cut

[edited by: Realbrisk at 7:24 am (utc) on April 25, 2008]