I currently have my domain names set up with three nameservers -- in
the first slot is the primary server administered and maintained by
myself.  The second and third are outsourced "managed" nameservers
that should kick in as backup servers when the first, primary, server
is down.

The problem, however, is that for some reason these servers are
getting used in a "round robin" fashion, that is, 66% of all the DNS
queries are being sent to the expensive, outsourced solution.

I need to figure out a way to set things up so that the primary DNS
server takes 100% of the queries, unless it is down, at which point
the backup servers should take 100% of the queries.

Currently, the domain whois looks like this:

Domain name servers in listed order:
ns1.primaryserver.com
ns2.outsourced.com
ns3.outsourced.com

And the resource record looks like this:

mydomain.com.   22447  IN   NS   ns3.outsourced.com
mydomain.com.   22447  IN   NS   ns2.outsourced.com
mydomain.com.   22447  IN   NS   ns1.primaryserver.com

Please enlighten me on the DNS process and how I can set this system
up to act in a primary/backup relationship instead of a load sharing
relationship.

---

Request for Question Clarification by denco-ga on 08 Oct 2003 17:47 PDT

Howdy crmi,

What does a typical domain entry look like in both your
nameserver and on the secondary nameservers named files?

This might help a researcher troubleshoot your problem.

denco-ga