What are the pros and cons of running your own DNS server?

What are the practical benefits and downsides of running your own DNS server instead of using the DNS servers provided by your registrar? More specifically, in what situations would you run your own DNS server?

Solution 1:

I am going to assume you are asking about setting up a DNS server for answering authoritive zone information for a domain. If your setting up a server just to do name resolution for clients, there are another set of considerations.

In an ISP setting where there are a lot of domains that may be hosted, running your own DNS might be beneficial. Direct access to the configurations will be available, and can be easily integrated into whatever system you are using to manage your customer's domains, such as Virtualmin or whatnot. Downsides are that you have to manage your own DNS server, so security updates and configuration, redundancy, and all the other fun activities that go with server maintenance. Although ISPs are generally hosting the Web servers anyway, so generally not a big deal.

For a singular site, I would generally go with using your registrar or hosting company. Both organizations will generally have far more system redundancy then one can build out. Most provide enough configuration options for all but the most complex of setups.

Solution 2:

I recommend a third method: Use a dedicated DNS provider such as Zoneedit or EasyDNS.

For the typical website, it is the best of all options:

• Very easy to use (web interface)
• No problem when changing hosting provider
• No problem when using more than one hosting provider
• These companies have global, redundant DNS server network (better than the typical hoster)
• Cost negligible (at least for Zoneedit, that is what I use for years)