How can I host a single domain on different servers
kunwarbs
9:06 am on May 29, 2010 (gmt 0)
I want to host my website say domain.com on different servers so that in case one of the server fails to handle the amount of traffic or may be down for any other reason, it can still be accessed through the other server? Is that possible? How?
That thread is in the supporters area and may not be accessible to the OP. The solution depends a bit on the location of the servers. If they are in the same data center--and if possible in the same server rack--a dedicated load balancer can be used. This is a piece of hardware which splits incoming traffic over the available two (or more) servers.
If both servers are in different location, the DNS service you use for the A record of your domain must be configured with the two IP addresses. Normally these IP addresses will be distributed round-robin to clients, giving each of the clients about 50% of the traffic.
With both solutions, a method must be present to redirect all traffic to one of the servers in case the other one is not available. Many dedicated hardware load balancers have functionality to do this automatically. If you use a round-robin DNS setup, the DNS server must stop issuing the IP address of the unavailable server. Not all DNS servers are capable of that. Mainly some specialized DNS service providers offer it.
phranque
9:00 am on May 30, 2010 (gmt 0)
my bad! in my haste to provide an answer i failed to notice i was referring to a supporters forum thread.
