DNS Hosting Services (+API) - For Hundreds of Domains?


2

This is a follow up question to DNS Hosting Services - hopefully it's okay that I post like this.

I'm running a business app where users move their site to our platform, and looking for a better solution for DNS hosting.

Does anyone recommend a DNS hosting service which is good for managing 100+ domains?

I'm currently using virtualmin and hosting my own DNS server - which I definitely don't want to do moving forward. It's automated now since we're using virtualmin, but it's not a good idea to host DNS on the same server as our web server.

DNSMadeEasy and other solutions like it make you manually create each record one at a time - which won't be possible for me since I'm looking to host 100-200 domains. Looking for a service that lets me create records via API or lets me directly edit the records file.

I wonder why so many hosts and DNS services make you enter in each DNS record one-at-a-time through a gui...

Thanks all!

Domain DNA

asked Jan 5 '11 at 14:42
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Alex Cook
641 points
  • In the last week I've looked closely at all the services out there. I'm between DNSMadeEasy, DynDNS SMB, and Amazon Route 53. Amazon Route 53 is particularly attractive because their rates are so low - $1/domain/month including 1 billion queries. DynDNS has excellent customer service and a nice API. DNSMadeEasy is launching an API soon. – Alex Cook 14 years ago

2 Answers


2

Well, if you want a straightforward rest api, zerigo is a possibility. Dyn's dynect soap api is also good. Or use dbndns + mysql and program your own.

answered Jan 5 '11 at 15:05
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Jim Galley
9,952 points
  • Looked at zerigo and I like it alot. Concerned, though, that they've only been around for 2 years... last thing I want to do is sign up and have them go under. You using them now? – Alex Cook 14 years ago
  • Just checked out dynect. They seem to be more reliable - many larger brands are using them - https://www.dyndns.com/services/dynectsmb/Alex Cook 14 years ago
  • Dyn's offering has been out longer and is a larger, dns focused company. I've used them before but they are not cheap (start @ 200/month). – Jim Galley 14 years ago
  • You get what you pay for. I use Dynect for various needs and they are top-notch. – Alphadogg 14 years ago
  • Cool - I think I'm going to give Dynect, since many of the leaders on the web are using them. $3/mo/domain is not bad, especially for businesses sites. – Alex Cook 14 years ago
  • $200/month? I signed up for the SMB account - 10 domains for $30/month = $3/month. Am I missing something, though? – Alex Cook 14 years ago
  • Dynect SMB starts at $30 / month - Dynect Enterprise starts at $195 - but it looks like SMB will work fine for your needs ;) http://www.dyndns.com/services/dynectsmb/ http://dyn.com/enterprise-dynect-platform/dynect-platform-pricing-3Jim Galley 14 years ago

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Sounds like Amazon Route 53 should suit perfectly your requirements:

  • it is a webservice so you can automate it using API
  • as with every other Amazon AWS it will automatically scale for you with traffic
  • Route 53 is a relatively new service by the time of writing this so I cannot say how reliable it is but from my experience with other amazon aws products it should be great

See: http://aws.amazon.com/route53/

answered Jan 6 '11 at 12:47
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Radek
148 points
  • Oh yeah! I forgot about Route 53 - thanks for the reminder. I'll be checking it out and report back! – Alex Cook 14 years ago
  • Played around with it for a while. But, (from what I can see) you have to add records via Perl or Python. That might work well for some, but I can't get the req Perl/Python modules to place nice... and I'd rather not spend hours on it. Too bad Amazon doesn't give you any gui at all - at least for getting started. Thanks again for the heads up! – Alex Cook 14 years ago
  • @Alex Cook: You're using a web service call to add records. The Perl and Python wrappers are just there to help you get started. If you create a nice component for Route 53 management for your project, then I would bet you could even sell that component alone to others. – Jesper Mortensen 14 years ago
  • @Alex Cook: As far as I know Amazon they rapidly deploy new features. I would not be surprised if the ports to other languages will be available soon. Same goes for UI - I am guessing that within a month or so it should be done. – Radek 14 years ago
  • Ha! Good point. I was thinking that! If I do build something I'll just post the source on my blog. Yep, hopefully Amazon releases something - Route 53 was just released so it's understandable. Perl/Python dependencies aren't playing nice for me now. When I figure out a solution I'll let you know. – Alex Cook 14 years ago

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