Migrating cpanel dnsonly to mew server

businezz

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Jan 23, 2021
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Hi,

I have 2 servers with dnsonly at the same data center on 2 separate servers ns1 and ns2.

I would like to move both to different data center hosted on different locations. What will be the easiest way to do this without any downtime?

If i shut down and keep it off ns1 server until the new ns1 server propagates will be there downtime? And then do the same for ns2 will it work?
 

cPRex

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Oct 19, 2014
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Hey there! There isn't a way to migrate DNSOnly systems, so I'd do the following:

-create two new DNSOnly machines at your desired location
-name them ns3 and ns4
-add them to your existing cluster - this will get the DNS records to sync properly over to them
-add the ns3 and ns4 nameservers to the registrar for your domains

At this point, all four nameservers are live. After a few days you can remove ns1 and ns2 from the registrar for the domains, and then you can decommission ns1 and ns2 as they aren't being used.
 

businezz

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Jan 23, 2021
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As far as the hardware requirements, 1G is starting to push it for any modern operating system, but the main factor will be how busy the DNS servers are.
Hey,

That's what i was thinking, but still i want to use ns1 and ns2. I have about 100+ websites and i don't have access to 70% of the domains... I was hoping somehow to swap back to ns1 and ns2 or renaming ns3 and ns4 back to ns1 and ns2. I'm not sure if this is something possible...

I use almalinux on the servers, so i'll give it a try with 1GB, currently, they are with 2GB.
 

cPRex

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Sure - that makes it slightly more tricky, but maybe this process would work well:

-take ns1 offline
-build a new server named ns1 and add it to the cluster
-wait for propagation for a few days
-take ns2 offline
-build a new server named ns2 and add it to the cluster

Since you already have the DNS clustered, I would not expect there to be any disruptions when ns1 is missing for those few days.
 

businezz

Well-Known Member
Jan 23, 2021
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Sure - that makes it slightly more tricky, but maybe this process would work well:

-take ns1 offline
-build a new server named ns1 and add it to the cluster
-wait for propagation for a few days
-take ns2 offline
-build a new server named ns2 and add it to the cluster

Since you already have the DNS clustered, I would not expect there to be any disruptions when ns1 is missing for those few days.
That's what i was thinking to do, but i wasn't sure if the domains will be offline. I will give it a try and see how it works. Thanks!
 

businezz

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Jan 23, 2021
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You're welcome! I wouldn't expect anything to go offline since the DNS cluster is already in place, and it will just failover to whichever server is still active.
hey, so i did moved ns1 to a different server and all went good. But when i check one of the domains on mxtoolbox it says:
At least one name server failed to respond in a timely manner
Failure detail: my_ip_xx.xx.xx.xx
The nameserver status is red, basically shows its like offline. Any idea what’s wrong here? I followed all the steps from my previous configuration.

Thanks
 

cPRex

Jurassic Moderator
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There isn't going to be a good answer to that without some additional testing. If you ping the nameserver name of ns1.domain.com, does that resolve to the correct IP? If so, can you run this test from a webserver and get the A record?

Code:
dig some-domain-you-host.com @ns1.domain.com