What would happen if an ISP went down?

[Coyote]

In the UK, The company I work for has a domain registered with an ISP - but it points to our own server.

Does anybody know what would happen if the ISP was to go bust?

for instance - if the nameserver/s that the domain was pointing to was to be switched off - would this mean that we wouldnt get any traffic - or is there a failsafe?

If this was to happen and all contact with the ISP was lost - due to office closure - how could we repoint the NameServers? would the internet registrar let us do this - when the name was supplied via the ISP.

Is it possible to have more than 2 name sersvers - but with different ISP's?

Sorry if I sound a little dumb.

[jason]

First, if you are using the nameservers of the ISP, and they go away, then yes, you will stop getting traffic. How easy it will be for you to change those nameservers depends on how the name was registered. Every registrar (assuming you're using a com/net/org/biz/info/whatever name--as you say you're in the UK, I don't know how the .uk system works if that's the type of name you have) has their own way of handling changes, but all should allow you to change DNS servers with little difficulty. What really matters is who the domain is registered to. Is it in your companies name or in your ISP's name. If you don't know, look up the name here: http://www.interbrite.com/whois. It will tell you who the domain is registered to and who the contact points are. My guess is that it will be registered in your company's name and may have your ISP listed as a technical contact. Some registrars do changes by email, some do it over the web, so you'll need to check with your registrar to find out exactly how to go about making the change. If the domain is registered in you ISP's name, it usually isn't too difficult to get the registration switched. You'll probably just need to fax your registrar some documents that prove you are the real owner of that domain and they will change the info so that its in your name. I've had to do this before. It is a slow process (it can take up to a couple of weeks), but it will get done eventually.

As for multiple DNS servers, that's possible, too. You would have one primary server, as you do now and then one or more secondaries. They can be anywhere in the world, it doesn't matter who owns them. There are several services that will provide DNS hosting, some are free but offer no guarantees of uptime, others charge a monthly fee, but ensure 99% or better uptime. Check out http://www.mydomain.com, http://www.granitecanyon.com, http://www.easydns.com.

I hope this helps and isn't too confusing.

--Jason

[Coyote]

Jason,

its a .com name - and the ISP is a small 'not well known' one in the uk - so i dont feel that confident in them.

I think i'll go with the multiple dns servers option - I will check out those links you mentioned.

Thanks Jason

[zaw]

Jason your whois donsn't seem to be working right. It said both my domains were available.

[jason]

Originally posted by zaw
Jason your whois donsn't seem to be working right. It said both my domains were available.

zachwhite.com and phpdirector.com both seem to work fine for me this morning. Could have been that one of the whois servers was down or something when you tried. I've never noticed any problems.

--Jason

[getch-tech.com]

I tried the whois posted above, said my domain was available also. I am thinking that they only look at a certain database or semething, like opensrs's database. Mine is on stargate's, and is definately not available :P

[jason]

The way the script works is that it queries rs.internic.net first and gets the whois server where your domain's info can be found and then it queries that server for the main record. I've been noticing (and you guys have as well) that sometimes domains come up as being available when they really aren't. I haven't looked at the code to confirm this, but what I think happens is that if the server times out it returns the same result as if the domain is available. Don't worry, though, if you click on the register button and try to register it, the registrar's page that comes up will tell you that you can't.

I didn't write this script myself. I go it from www.phpwhois.com. It was one of the first whois scripts that was capable of querring the multiple registries when NetSol lost their monopoly a few years back, and its still one of the most powerful. Since I prefer to write everything I use myself, I've been toying with my own version of the script for about a week, and I'll probably be using that one when I redesign my site, which will happen as soon as I finish moving into my new apartment. My script will be able to differentiate between a timeout and an available domain better than the one I use now.

--Jason