Hello,

I basically want to have mirror sites set up on a different network in case the main one fails. What is the best way to do this? I would like to try it out with one of our servers that has roughly 140 domains on it. When the server goes down, it automatically kicks it to the other, backup server where the backups of sites are . Do I just use DNS and set up 2 different nameservers/IPs?

Thank you for your help.

Hello,

As noted in the above post I would like to also have failsafe DNS set up so that in case one box goes down, it will be kicked to the other box, and so on. I am planning on using DNSmadeeasy.com.

My questions are as follows:

1. Is there a syncing script that will allow for the website to be updated on both servers (the main and the secondary one) each night? This is so the site on the secondary server stays current and does not appear out of date when kicked over to it.

2. I currently run cpanel/whm, so, I assume that on the secondary server I'll need to have it installed so everything runs correctly, right?

I am planning of just offering this service as an add-on to websites that want it at first, to see how it goes.

Another thing I have been thinking about is, would it be possible to set up a 'skeleton' site that looks exactly like the main site, but just says something along the lines of 'We are currently experiencing difficulties, sorry for any inconvinience.' This method will just require the backup of the main homepage and their logo and the main feel of the website, and no real updates.

I hope I didn't confuse you with all this.

Thanks for the help

Answering my own post.

I have solved this issue and have set up a DNS/RSYNC/MySQL replication script. Will test it this weekend, hopefully will work well.

I apologize I wasn't able to provide more detailed information sooner. Let us know if this works out for you!

One thing I should mention for other people reading this thread is that no, cpanel does not need to be installed for you to run a mirror of a site on a cpanel machine. Cpanel incorporates many things other than web (like dns, mail, and other applications) for the ease of use to have everything in one location. I would highly recommend however to host your DNS on a server off of your web server, that way, if your web server goes down, you can still change the dns to point to another server (in this case they would use http://www.dnsmadeeasy.com/).