Need Help With Nameserver Issue

Confused as to how to handle a new VPS

[old_expat]

I really need some help to know is I set up my nameservers for a new VPS, and whether I need to add another IP address.

A little background: I had a VPS at Old Hosting Company for 5 years. The support guys there were terrific.

Old HC set up the nameservers for me: ns1.***, ns2.***, ns3.***, ns4.***. All I did was add the nameservers to the domains at the domain registrar. (I had 4 or 5 IP addresses.)

Sadly, they went out of business. So I had to get a new hosting company.

New Hosting Company has a great reputation and seem to be okay, but they do nameservers completely differently.

New Hosting company gave instructions in the setup email:

"You need to create the following name servers at your registrar:
ns1.xxxx.com using IP xx.xxx.10.xxx
ns2.xxxx.com using IP xx.xxx.11.xxx"

I set up the nameservers by creating "A" records with the 2 ip addresses.

But I don't have full confidence in the nameservers created at the registrar. Also, my traffic is down about 30%.

I read somewehere that it's better to have at least 3 nameservers.

In fumbling around trying to understand what I need to do, I found dnsever.com. I set up an account and added all my domains and dnsever assinged me 3 nameservers:

ns24.dnsever.com >> xxx.xxx.xxx.24
ns69.dnsever.com >> xxx.xxx.xxx.69
ns98.dnsever.com >> xxx.xxx.xxx.98

I'm confused about how to use the 3 new nameservers.

Do I simply add ns24.dnsever.com, ns24.dnsever.com, & s24.dnsever.com to my domains at the registrar, or do I need to add those 3 IP addresses to an "A" Record somewhere?

Do I need to buy/rent another IP address?

[phranque]

you can specify all 5 nameservers (2 NHC & 3 dnsever) at your registrar if you like.
it will give you "extra redundancy".

those (5) IP addresses are the addresses of the nameservers, not your web server, so they should be specified along with the nameserver hostnames in your registrar config.

the zone file at each nameserver needs to know about all 5 nameservers.
i would assume you should have a simple interface at dnsever to edit the zone file and hopefully your NHC nameserver also gives you this flexibility.
one of the nameservers will have to be the master - probably one of the NHC nameservers.

the A records should point to the IP address of your web server, assuming you have a static IP address.
if the NHC is assigning the IP dynamically then you will need to use the dynamic dns service at dnsever.

[old_expat]

I understand some of this, but not all. Please bear with me. I'm not very technically competent.

Regarding the nameservers:

ns24.dnsever.com >> xxx.xxx.xxx.24
ns69.dnsever.com >> xxx.xxx.xxx.69
ns98.dnsever.com >> xxx.xxx.xxx.98

Do I need to simply change the A records on each of these to the 2 IP addresses assigned by my host, then add them to the domains at the registrar?

[phranque]

those 2 IP addresses "assigned by your host" are the IP addresses of the 2 nameservers assigned by your host.
they are NOT the IP address(es) of your web server, which is what the A record is all about.

your host is probably dynamically assigning the IP address of your web server so it is "managing the the A records dynamically", so to speak, within its own 2 nameservers.

you will probably need to do something similar with dnsever by using their dynamic dns service.

in addition, your hosts nameservers need to know about the dnsever nameservers and vice versa.

[old_expat]

Okay, I really don't understand your last post as this is the report that I get from intodns when I query my domain:

Your www.website.com A record is:
www.website.com -> website.com -> [ xx.xxx.10.xxx ]

but thanks for the effort.

[phranque]

old_expat, did you ever achieve a solution for this?

[RichardMackenzie]

What is intodns and old_expat?ccan anyone elaborate about this?

[phranque]

intodns is a tool for testing dns config health and old_expat is the WebmasterWorld nickname of the prevous poster.