How Fast is DNS Failover?

We’re often asked how quickly an ‘A’ or ‘AAAA’ record controlled by a DNS Failover pool can update across the internet. TLDR: 2.5 minutes is about as fast as it can go. If you’re curious how we came up with this number, here’s the backstory on how it all works. DNS Failover update speed is […]

How Does DNS Failover Work?

Total Uptime’s DNS Failover automation is a powerful way of increasing availability for any type of web-based service or application that is accessible via multiple IP addresses. Some examples include: An application behind two or more different ISP links Two or more servers at the same or different sites Two or more cloud or hosting […]

DNS Failover Calls

Click on one of the links on the left to find specific information about the call you would like to make.

DNS Failover Pools

Don’t want to read the manual? Watch the video instead! Failover Pools are lists of one or more IP addresses (IPv4 or IPv6) that can be assigned to A or AAAA records to automate record changes based on certain monitoring criteria you specify. For example, you may have a failover pool that contains the IP […]

Reliably Monitoring Exchange Server for DNS Failover or Load Balancing

On occasion we receive a request seeking assistance creating monitors to determine the availability of Microsoft Exchange, such as Internet-facing ActiveSync or OWA. After helping many customers, we have determined what works well, and what doesn’t work at all. Here are our tried and true suggestions for reliably monitoring your Exchange environment. Exchange 2013, 2016 […]

What DNS Failover Methods do you support?

We support two different DNS Failover methods. Sequential and Round Robin. Sequential Method: This method uses the server IP addresses one by one in the order they are entered. That way, you always have one IP address announced for your ‘A’ record, which is considered a primary server. Should that server go offline, the failover […]

Quick Start Video: How to configure DNS Failover

Watch this video to learn how to configure DNS Failover. We walk you through creating your first failover pool, adding servers and updating your ‘A’ record to use the new failover pool. Note: If you prefer to read the manual, you can do that here: DNS Failover Pool Manual    

How low should the TTL be set to for my A or AAAA record when using DNS Failover?

When you have created a DNS Failover pool and have assigned it to an ‘A’ or ‘AAAA’ record, you want the flexibility to switch back and forth between the available servers during outages. To best accomplish this, we highly recommend decreasing the TTL value for that particular DNS record to the lowest allowable setting of […]

How does the DNS Failover Service work?

Total Uptime’s DNS failover works by constantly monitoring at least two servers using any number of fully customizable monitoring tests that you create. It allows you to send traffic to those servers via one of two methods. (1) You can use Round Robin to send traffic to all of your available servers, or (2) you can send traffic […]