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I'm trying to set up new nameservers on HostGator. We already have NS1. and NS2. set up, but i need NS3 - NS6 also and there are only 3 slots available for name server assignments.

The other option is to use a different domain name, but the rest are hosted on Verio and I don't have any clue how to do it for a verio domain name. Does anybody have resources or information of any kind that will help me set up nameservers on verio (or more than 3 nameservers on hostgator)? I would greatly appreciate it.

EDIT

Let me clarify my situation. I have 3 servers. I own like 50 domain names that all belong to different clients. they are all hosted by verio, except for a single domain name that is used as our nameserver. So we have NS1.example.com and NS2.example.com, and those point to server 1. I need NS3 and NS4 to point to server 2, and NS5 and NS6 to point to server #3. We're splitting our hosting across the three servers. we'll probably have 15 or so websites on each, realistically. So I need to control DNS on the servers for each domain name. I don't want to do it from the registrar's zone file. Am i correct in assuming that I need nameservers to assign to the domain names? to point to the new servers?

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    You're not required to use six nameservers! Jan 12, 2016 at 17:17
  • i have 3 servers
    – Katushai
    Jan 12, 2016 at 18:28
  • You own 50 domain names that belong to your clients? I'm confused. You have 3 servers that you want to designate as NS1 through NS6? I'm even more confused.
    – joeqwerty
    Jan 14, 2016 at 17:44
  • my company registered the domain names for my clients so they're under my company's registrar account. i have 3 servers that each need 2 nameservers, so i can direct the domain names and all DNS traffic to the correct server. server #1 will have NS1 and NS2, server #2 will have NS3 and NS4, server #3 will have NS5 and NS6
    – Katushai
    Jan 14, 2016 at 17:46

2 Answers 2

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Five possible answers:

  • You don't need to do that (four nameservers is enough for Google)
  • You probably shouldn't do that if your domain name is long enough that the reply doesn't fit into a 512-byte UDP packet
  • You can put several IPs per name server, does that help?
  • You need to contact your registrar to see if they can do it (they won't)
  • You need to transfer your domain to a registrar that permits the traditional maximum thirteen nameservers and whose interface is intuitive enough that you can use it to do what you want.

EDIT:

Please explain your problem at a bit higher level :) You certainly do not need two nameservers for every server, and especially not different ones (that would be mathematically impossible). Put very simply, a nameserver is a server that will convert names (like www.example.com) to IP addresses. If you have three servers, then you need only one name per server, and you can have thousands and thousands of name-to-IP pairs in one nameserver.

For each domain you control, you would need to indicate at least two nameservers (in case one fails) so that the Internet knows how to find the IP addresses for the servers in that domain, but usually the nameservers serve very many domains and the registrar or domain reseller will happily provide and pre-configure nameservers for the domain names they sell. If you buy domains from HostGator, then you can use their nameservers.

Now, if you have bought three servers, that you want to use for your own purposes, then you certainly want to be able to refer to those servers by name (www.example.com, server-a.example.com, whatever.example.com) instead of by IP. You need to configure the nameservers that your domain probably already has thanks to HostGator. It's probably in HostGator's Domain Management, called configuring your domain's DNS information or zone file, but it would be best if you asked HostGator about it.

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  • so youre saying i should call them? like i said, i have 3 servers. i need 2 nameservers for each server that I'm using
    – Katushai
    Jan 12, 2016 at 18:48
  • I expanded my answer since comments are limited in length.
    – Law29
    Jan 12, 2016 at 22:49
  • I edited to provide clarification in response to your edit
    – Katushai
    Jan 13, 2016 at 0:53
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For some registrars, you'll need to call and ask them to register private nameservers for you. It depends upon the host. Verio, for example, has to register them for you. However, you're going to want to make sure that they spelled the domain name correctly (i just had this problem). For registrars like godaddy, you're going to have to add them yourself. Just log in and edit the zone file. You want to add A records that look like this:

    ns1     [ip address here]       1 Hour      A
    ns2     [ip address here]       1 Hour      A

After adding the A records, create new NS records (it should be listed in there, the same as A). If it's not listed, you'll need to call your registrar and have them add the NS records. Here's what your NS records should look like:

    [ip address here]   ns1.example.com 1 Hour      NS
    [ip address here]   ns2.example.com 1 Hour      NS

This could take a REALLY long time to propagate. Don't freak out. Just try monitoring propagation progress by going to whatsmydns.net. AFTER it finishes propagating, you'll want to change your nameservers on your domain name. If you do it before they're done propagating, you can expect your website to go down.

EDIT

If your nameservers still aren't propagating (as mine did not) after a day or two, try deleting the records and re-adding them. Seriously. It sounds odd, but it happened to two of the domain names for which I created nameservers.

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  • This is the solution to my problem. If i'm explaining the problem incorrectly, somebody please tell me what i was actually looking for.
    – Katushai
    Jan 14, 2016 at 17:48
  • You say you do not want to use somebody else's zone files, but this answer has you doing that. Just to make sure... what DNS server software are you installing on your three servers?
    – Law29
    Jan 14, 2016 at 18:14
  • I'm using bind. when i said i didnt want to use somebody else's zone files, i didn't realize that i didn't have an option. the reason i said that was because i had no idea how this even worked until somebody showed me. my mistake, though. i appreciate your help
    – Katushai
    Jan 14, 2016 at 18:24
  • Of course you can do without your registrar's zone files if you have your own nameservers, just maybe not the first day or so. Also, I see in the answer that you are only talking about two nameservers now. In your position I would have three, one on each of your three servers. Every domain would have (the same) three name servers. Even if you decide on two, the two nameservers should absolutely not be on the same server as you seemed to be saying when explaining that NS1 and NS2 would point to server1.
    – Law29
    Jan 14, 2016 at 19:24
  • what i meant was i needed to set up a total of six of these. so my server actually does list 6 total now. ns1 - ns6. i just listed 2 for the example
    – Katushai
    Jan 15, 2016 at 22:01

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