Web gurus, how would you go about doing this?

M

Monkey_b

Veteran X
I've got a website that needs to be up 24/7, without exceptions. It's nothing fancy, just an html site with info on it, but it's important that the site always be accessible.

Is it possible to get two separate hosting accounts, with two separate providers, and then have some kind of DNS service that automatically redirects people from one host to the other in the event of a failover? Or if not automatically, then on request?

Whoever finds the solution to this problem wins a paypal prize.
 
Your best is find a hosting company that will do the garauntee for you. If not you probably want two seperate servers in two seperate DCs (say like MCI and Level3) that you can fail over to.

Keep in mind you need to have some sort of maintenance window for applying patches and doing releases.
 
My approach wouldn't work? I mean what are the chances of two separate hosting companies (one located on the east and the other on the west) being down at the same time?
 
KnightMare said:
isnt there mirror services?
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No need for mirror services, as you can use rsync for that, but I still need a way to manage the failover. If the primary host fails, I need to redirect to the secondary without waiting for any DNS propagation bullshit.
 
Sure it is unlikely but if you have contract that makes you the one who is liable then why chance it.

Shit happens all the time.
 
Ruthven said:
Sure it is unlikely but if you have contract that makes you the one who is liable then why chance it.

Shit happens all the time.
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exactly why I said he needs the servers :)
 
Sure...two servers, two firewalls, two racks in two seperate datacenters that are on two seperate backbones.

Hey if you can pass all that cost onto the client than go for it. That is what we do (ASP product).
 
Ruthven said:
Sure...two servers, two firewalls, two racks in two seperate datacenters that are on two seperate backbones.

Hey if you can pass all that cost onto the client than go for it. That is what we do (ASP product).
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well yes or just get servers and have them managed by two seperate companies with fail over.

however the closer you get to "THIS MUST BE UP 24/7" then you really need to handle the shit yourself

my company has a DR site as well.
 
Yeah personally putting anything 100% in writing is just asking for karma to hit you in the ass. 99% should be more than enough and will factor in any 'oops i crapped my pants' moments.

Shit happens beyond your control all the time (i.e. Cogent/Level3 two weeks ago)
 
99% Uptime Guarantee means that the site could be down for a total of 87.6 hours in a year.

99.9% Uptime Guarantee means that the site could be down for a total of 8.76 hours in a year.

Either of those guarantees are pretty respectable and should be enough to please a client.
 
Ruthven said:
Yeah personally putting anything 100% in writing is just asking for karma to hit you in the ass. 99% should be more than enough and will factor in any 'oops i crapped my pants' moments.

Shit happens beyond your control all the time (i.e. Cogent/Level3 two weeks ago)
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you're telling me. part of my job requires an interface with a 3rd party company. They fuck up all the time.
 
2 servers, load balanced with some device like F5 Big IP's, 2 switches, 2 routers, multiple upstreams to the intarweb, 2 separate power sources hooked up to 2 different power grids going through 2 different UPS's.

Have fun.
 
Honestly, even with 2 hosts you could still have downtime. Sure it isn't likely, but neither is the chance that a reputable colo will go down. Hell we use an Equinix center in Chicago. They stayed up even through an electrical fire and flooding. I think we experienced a 5 minute downtime for a switchover.

99.9% is enough for anyone.
 
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Chicago is the best. We are actually dropping our Level3 hosting and moving that one to Chicago (not sure which DC) and keeping our DR at MCI (here in Mass).
 
Colosus said:
Honestly, even with 2 hosts you could still have downtime. Sure it isn't likely, but neither is the chance that a reputable colo will go down. Hell we use an Equinix center in Chicago. They stayed up even through an electrical fire and flooding. I think we experienced a 5 minute downtime for a switchover.

99.9% is enough for anyone.
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Soild provider. I know cause I did some contract work there to help build their network infrastructure.
 
You could do a solution like apple where they have servers in every major city area and serve pages based on the requests location. But it's more of an IT solution rather than a web development businesses solution. You'd need to contact a good IT outsourcing company and see what they can do for you.
 
I like Dreamhost. There is a referral program that lets you create custom promotions for new members by using the 97 dollars that you would get as a referral thing towards a discount. I'd say get one of those, using all of my 97 referral things would make it 22 dollars a year, VERY good deal.
 
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