What is a Secondary DNS service?
A Secondary DNS service is an addition to your Primary DNS service that provides extra name servers that have a copy of the zone file. Those servers will store the DNS records for your domain and resolve the domain when someone queries them. That way, they provide redundancy, better performance, hand increase your domain availability.
The Secondary DNS service is just a copy of the Primary DNS, so you can’t add or remove DNS records from it directly. Instead, you should do that on the Primary DNS.
Benefits from using it.
- Redundancy. By adding a Secondary DNS service, you add the Secondary provider’s DNS servers and increase your network of DNS servers. The more you have, the better chance you have to stay online.
- Improve the performance. Now, your Primary DNS will have a “helper”. Additional servers that could be located in other locations will also resolve the domain. That way, the speed of resolving can improve and overall reduce the traffic on the Primary.
- Have a backup. You will have a copy of the zone file right inside your Secondary DNS servers. In case of a failure with the Primary, you can rescue the file with your DNS records.
- Use it to hide the Primary DNS. For example, you can configure it, so the Primary stay hidden and only the Secondary is visible. This can help you keep the Primary private.
- It reduces the dependency on a single DNS provider. If you have a Secondary service with another provider, you can easily migrate with it in case you are not satisfied with your Primary anymore.
- Easy to set up. You will need to create a Secondary zone and perform a zone transfer to copy the zone file from the Primary DNS zone, but it is an easy task that takes little to no time.
Where can I get a Secondary DNS service?
There are multiple free Secondary DNS services that you can try, but most of them have serious drawbacks. Usually, they are limited to a certain amount of DNS queries per month, a very limited total number of DNS records, a lack of advanced features like DDoS protection or Dynamic DNS, and a very little choice of name servers. Still, one option could be Hurricane Electric Internet Services.
Get a free Socandary DNS from Hurricane Electric, and you will have a lot of nice features like:
- Dualstack. IPv4 and IPv6.
- Many DNS record types. A, AAAA, PTR, SRV, CNAME, CAA, ALIAS, TXT, SPF, and more.
- Forward and Reverse DNS.
- Multiple domains per account are supported.
- Multiple servers to choose from.
What it lacks is good customer service, which could be vital if you have a problem. Also, it is not the easiest to use, and it does not provide DDoS protection that could be very important in the modern world.
And if you are willing to spend a bit and get an excellent Secondary DNS service for your business, you can go with ClouDNS. Their Secondary plans start at just $2.95 per month, but one great plan is their DDoS Protected M plan that costs $11.95 per month. You will get:
- Dualstack. IPv4 and IPv6.
- Even more DNS record types and a high limit of 3000 DNS records that you could have.
- Unlimited DNS queries.
- High-grade DDoS protection.
- 34 Anycast location.
- Advanced features like DNSSEC, Dynamic DNS, Hourly DNS statistics, Traffic monitor and failover, and more.
- And excellent customer 24/7 service.
Recommended article: DDoS attack – Everything you need to know