Proper way to setup cPanel DNS Only Server

peachstoli

Hello Everyone.
I need to set up two dns only servers like eu.mydomain.com and us.mydomain.com
But im pretty confused on the ip and name server part of those servers.
My current setup is like ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com

ns1.mydomain.com : 1.1.1.1
ns2.mydomain.com : 2.2.2.2

eu.mydomain.com : 3.3.3.3
us.mydomain.com : 4.4.4.4

Which ip and name server should i enter on the dns only servers ?.
Can someone shed light on this ?.

Dean

Why not cluster all of them so you have built in redundancy? Then stick them on either ns1/ns2 (using 2 ips for each) or ns1/ns2/ns3/ns4

I have 11 cPanel DNS-Only servers in 10 different countries; each one replicates to each other and is set to never be removed from the cluster if it goes down.

I have it set like this:

ns1 - 1.1.1.1, 2.2.2.2, 3.3.3.3, 4.4.4.4

ns2 - 5.5.5.5, 6.6.6.6, 7.7.7.7, 8.8.8.8

ns3 - 9.9.9.9, 10.10.10.10, 11.11.11.11

You can take a look here:

DNSInspect: https://safelinking.net/d/ed9505ee51

IntoDNS: https://safelinking.net/d/997e1e9b3e

My DNS Server Locations:

Tallinn, Estonia

Milan, Italy

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Maidenhead, UK

Frankfurt, Germany

Montreal, Canada

Orlando, Florida

New York, New York

Alicante, Spain

Singapore

Chișinău, Moldova

peachstoli

@DeanClinton said:
why not cluster all of them so you have built in redundancy?

I need eu and us only.

I installed two DNS Only server just now.
Now its asking me to enter nameservers and ip.
What should i enter, ns1 and ns2 or us and eu ?.
Which ip should i choose dns only ip or main server ip ?.

Dean

Ok, so you just installed cPanel DNS Only and have logged in the first time and this is where it has asked you? I entered ns1 and ns2 in those boxes; it'll automatically grab the IPs assuming you have already created the glue records / host nameserver records at your DNS registrar and have created the DNS entry.

On your DNS-Only install, I don't think it really matters to be honest - as those settings only really apply to the full blown cPanel AFAIK

By cluster them I meant link them all together so that if one goes down your other DNS servers can serve the records.

If you only have 2 dns servers, I'd use ns1 and ns2 - but that's personal preference; you could use your nameservers as us and eu if you really wanted to but if you ever move them in the future you may have to rename them if you move out of one of those areas? ns1 and ns2 is the norm I think.

peachstoli

@DeanClinton.

Thank you Dean.

Should I change anything in cPanel server other than Cluster Configuration ?. Like Adding DNS Zone for those eu and us nameserver ?.

Dean

This is how I would do it.

1. In your Domain Registrar, add a glue record / host name / child nameserver (it could be called any of those depending on your registrar) to point eu.yourdomain.tld to 3.3.3.3 and us.yourdomain.tld to 4.4.4.4
2. Add your two servers to your cPanel server under clustering, set them to sync.
3. Login to each of the DNS servers and set them to sync under clustering
4. Add a new DNS zone / A record for eu.yourdomain.tld to point to your 3.3.3.3 ip
5. Add a new DNS zone / A record for us.yourdomain.tld to point to your 4.4.4.4 ip
6. Edit your cPanel configuration to use eu.yourdomain.tld and us.yourdomain.tld when setting up accounts in their DNS zones
7. On your main cPanel server, press the Synchronize DNS zones link and make sure that it shows it has updated the records on all three servers.
8. Setup a test account and update your nameservers on the domain
9. Leave it about 20 mins or so and check on dnsreport to see if it's working

peachstoli

@DeanClinton said:

Add zone entries for the nameserver records you want to use.

Could you be more specific ?.
You mean A Record to those IPs ?.

Dean

I've just updated the post above

peachstoli

@DeanClinton said:
I've just updated the post above

Thank you !. You are a life saver !.

Dean

No problem - if you go for ns1 and ns2 instead or eu and us then just change the instructions above accordingly.

If you get stuck send me a private message.

Dean

Things I do after I know it's all working:

1. Edit /etc/named.conf and put the following in the options section at the top, then restart bind version "";
2. Set the following in existing records and in the DNS templates on cPanel:
   • SOA Refresh: 1200
   • SOA Retry: 120
   • SOA Expire: 604800
   • SOA Min TTL: 3600
3. If server has IPv6, then enable that on the DNS servers then add the IPv6 to ns A record (AAAA entry) - don't forget the record at the registrar too

johnner

@DeanClinton

thanks for your helpful post. I have a question though. Its not entirely clear to me how I would go about setting up cpanel dnsonly servers to sue the SAME Namesever with different IPs? any chance you are willing to type up some instructions? I've searched and your post is one of the only references to this type of setup with cpanel

basically I want to do with you have setup

ns1 1.1.1.1 and 2.2.2.2
ns2 has 3.3.3.3 and 4.4.4.4
possibly will add an NS 3 as well.

the first IP will remain the IP of the web Server for now anyway the second IP would be my first dnsonly server that I setup.

thanks so much!

also do you run the ndchost backup MX script on any of your dnsonly servers?

J